The Lego Movie named highest-grossing film of 2014 at the UK box office

The Warner Bros movie beat The Inbetweeners 2 to take the title

'The Lego Movie' has been one of the box office hits of 2014 (Warner Bros)

It was billed as a children’s film with traces of Orwellian satire and as many pop culture references as the average Tarantino – and now The Lego Movie has topped the UK 2014 box office.

The film made £34.27 million in ticket sales this year to claim the top spot at the British box office, beating runner-up The Inbetweeners 2 by over £1 million in takings.

Elsewhere, Hollywood blockbusters dominated the list of the most commercially successful films of 2014, with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in third place grossing £32.63 million.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies followed in fourth and fifth places respectively, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

But there was some relief from US sequels with the home-grown film Paddington, which beat off competition from The Wolf of Wall Street and Gone Girl to claim a place at number 10.

The film, which stars Hugh Bonneville and Nicole Kidman with Ben Whishaw voicing the title lead, has already sparked talk of a possible franchise.

Box office revenue was down by almost £57.86 million from 2013, which saw Despicable Me 2 named the highest-grossing film of the year.

The top-grossing films of 2014 at the UK box office

1. The Lego Movie - £34.27m

2. The Inbetweeners 2 - £33.33m

3. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - £32.63m

4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 - £29.46m

5. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - £28.71m

6. Guardians of the Galaxy - £28.51m

7. X-Men: Days of Future Past - £27.05m

8. How to Train Your Dragon 2 - £25.01m

9. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - £24.06m

10. Paddington - £23.91m