'Bend it like Beckham' on verge of a 'Full Monty' in US

Bend It Like Beckham, the British film proving an unexpected success around the globe, crept into the US box-office top 10 over the weekend, raising hopes that it could become the next surprise hit along the lines of The Full Monty or last year's cross-cultural comedy of manners, My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Beckham took almost $1.5m (£930,000) from Friday night to Sunday night, putting it in ninth place and raising its box-office total in America to about $11m. That may be a fraction of the $85.9m taken over the weekend by the new X-Men movie, but it is remarkable for a film that has yet to be exposed to wide distribution.

With all sorts of questions about audience appeal – most Americans don't know who David Beckham is, and few will know anything of Hounslow's Indian community – the film opened in just six art-house cinemas in Los Angeles and New York in March.

It has built slowly, largely on the strength of enthusiastic word of mouth, and is now showing in 484 cinemas, including a few big suburban multiplexes.

Beckham has enjoyed scintillating reviews – Time magazine called it the year's "brightest, funniest and most refreshing" film. It may also have benefited from the growing popularity of football, especially among children.

The film and the sport are showing signs of benefiting from canny cross-promotion. The style section of The Washington Post recently devoted a full page to Beckham and Manchester United – something it probably would not have done without the film as a hook.

United are also due to play four exhibition games this summer in Seattle, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia. The tickets – 60,000 per venue – have sold out. If Beckham thought he could count on a little anonymity while he is in the States, he may have to think again.