Tintin's half-term adventure takes off slowly but surely

• 

Box office journey ... Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) and Tintin (Jamie Bell) in The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

Several years in the making, combining the creative efforts of box office powerhouses Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn arrived freighted with a fair amount of commercial expectation. On the other hand, Hergé's boy reporter isn't necessarily a familiar character for the pre-teen target, so it was hard to predict exactly how the film would perform.

Opening last Monday with a so-so £485,000, the film saw grosses build day by day throughout the October half-term holiday, with £640,000 on Tuesday, £1.05m on both Wednesday and Thursday, £1.11m on Friday and £1.30m on Saturday. Seven-day total is a healthy £6.76m, the biggest opening for an animated film this year. On the flipside, it only achieved that number thanks to four days of previews (totalling £3.25m), whereas Disney's Tangled debuted with £5.11m back in January, all earned over the Friday-Sunday period. Kung Fu Panda 2 kicked off its run in June with £6.19m including £3.18m in previews, on its way to a total to date of £16.83m. Tintin has opened to slightly higher numbers than the chop-sockey panda, but the school holiday was its best chance to suck up audiences, and midweek takings should dip going forward. At least it faces no direct challenge for families until the arrival of Aardman's Arthur Christmas on 11 November.