box-office charts

TOP 10 LONDON

1 (-) Die Hard with a Vengeance US

2 (1) Waterworld US

3 (3) Batman Forever US

4 (2) The Englishman Who... UK

5 (-) Butterfly Kiss UK

6 (5) Casper US

7 (4) Judge Dredd US

8 (-) Burnt by the Sun Russia

9 (8) Spanking the Monkey US

10 (6) The Big Sleep US

TOP 10 US

1 (-) Mortal Kombat US

2 (1) Dangerous Minds US

3 (2) A Walk in the Clouds US

4 (4) Something to Talk About US

5 (3) Waterworld US

6 (5) Babe, the Gallant Pig US

7 (6) The Net US

8 (7) Apollo 13 US

9 (-) The Babysitters' Club US

10 (9) A Kid in King Arthur's Court US

Charts supplied by Screen International

We get most of our cultural pickings after the Americans have finished with the plate, so prepare yourself for Mortal Kombat in a few months time. Like Streetfighter, it's another video-game which has been stretched to cinema-screen size. This one's from the director of Shopping, which just goes to show what you get if you emulate Hollywood's worst excesses: they stick you in LA and make you do it for real. Enough complaining. Let's pat ourselves on the back for our London chart. Butterfly Kiss and Burnt by the Sun, neither masterpieces but both fascinating, have made impressive entrances while Die Hard with a Vengeance (with Samuel L Jackson, right) shoots straight to the top. It's the best blockbuster of the summer, though it's up against Batman Forever and Waterworld, so keep that remark in context.