Cheery animations are dominating the UK box office charts this month with Arthur Christmas, Happy Feet Two and new entry Puss in Boots holding three of the top five chart positions in the lead up to Christmas.

With takings of £1.98m in its opening weekend, Puss in Boots has surpassed Aardman favourite Arthur Christmas to nab the top spot. The figure is better than critics expected after the tepid reviews the film has received globally. Though with a festive release it was bound to get bums on seats.

So what’s the plot? The film follows Puss’ (Antonio Banderas) adventures leading up to his meeting Shrek and Donkey. As a wanted fugitive, in order to clear his name, Puss must steal magic beans from criminals, Jack and Jill. The swashbuckling cat along with his female sidekick Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and their mate Humpty Dumpty plan to steal the beans, take the golden egg from the giant’s castle and clear his name.

Not the most original plot they could have come up with, and neither is the name of Hayek’s character (Softpaws, really?) but it’s certainly good for the kids and hasn’t dampened their takings.

Meanwhile the romantic comedy New Year’s Eve, featuring an all-star cast including Zac Efron, Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl and Abigail Breslin debuted at number three with takings up to £1.29m. Martin Scorsese’s Hugo held steady at number four, and animated feature Happy Feet Two dropped to number five in its second week of release. Also entering the charts this week is A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas which came in a respectable eighth place. Another Earth, rounded out the top ten.

With the second instalment of Sherlock Holmes opening on the 16th December, it’ll be interesting to see how it effects the chart.

The brave, furry hero is played by Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek is the voice of Kitty Softpaws.

In the flesh, the stars look quite different, although you can see some resemblance between Kitty Softpaws’ long, glamorous eyelashes and Hayek’s own sexy style, and that glint in Puss in Boots’ eyes definitely carries through to Banderas.

In Argentina, the film is known locally as ‘El Gato Con Botas’, and Banderas is pleased that the film portrays the Hispanic world in such a positive light. He has said that the fact that the heroes of the film have Hispanic accents means that Anglo-Saxon children will be able to admire them and the Hispanic community should be proud of this.

Salma Hayak plays Puss’s love interest, Kitty Softpaws, who is likely to prove a good match for the mischievous strawberry-blond cat.

During the press conference, Banderas mentioned the first film he produced in America, The Mambo Kings in 1992, saying he had been told by some Hispanic colleagues that in Hollywood, he would be offered roles such as drug traffickers and thieves. This indicates how much times have changed, with two major characters in Puss in Boots having Hispanic accents.

It certainly looks like the press conference was a lot of fun as well and if that is anything to go by, then all audiences should enjoy the film. It has already met with huge success in America, topping the US box office on its opening weekend.

UK fans of the Shrek films will be eagerly waiting for the film’s release as Puss in Boots centres around the events leading up to Puss’s meeting with Shrek. It should be interesting to see what Puss was up to before his time with Shrek.

The film – starring the musketeer-inspired cat from the popular Shrek films – reached the North American movie top spot, taking in £21.2m ($34m) during its opening weekend.

It pushed the horror film Paranormal Activity 3 which only took in £11.6m, down to second place, just half the amount of Puss in Boots.

The ginger ninja is voiced by 51-year-old Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, who also narrated the character in Shrek 2 and 3.

The family romp tells the story of Puss’s adventures with his friends, Humpty Dumpty and Kitty Softpaws, before he met Shrek. His mission is to hunt down Jack and Jill, two murderous outlaws who are in possession of an ancient power which could destroy the world.

The 3D film, directed by Chris Miller, also includes voices from Salma Hayek (Kitty Softpaws), Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris (Jack and Jill), as well as The Hangover star Zach Galifianakis (Humpty Dumpty).

The Shrek spin-off was intended to be a direct to DVD release, however, it proved to be so popular that it was reconsidered for theatrical release.

Puss in Boots comes to UK cinemas on Friday 9 December, just in time for panto season.

The 30 second long trailer gives us a chilling peak at a plastic surgeon (Antonio Banderas) who is trying to save his wife’s life after she suffers burns in a car accident. He seems to be carrying out experiments on her and the trailer shows her trying to escape his control. We don’t see much, but what we are shown looks pretty eerie.

The story is based on the novel Tarantula written by Thierry Jonquet in 2005. Banderas’s character, who is described as ‘a brutal psychopath’ by Almodovar, is also avenging the rape of his daughter in the film.

It’s Almodovar’s first film in 21 years with Banderas. The pair last worked together on Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! back in 1990. Since then Almodovar’s career has gone from strength to strength with the likes of All About My Mother, Volver and Broken Embraces. His latest film looks far more brutal and hard hitting than the work he has done in the past and for a change Penelope Cruz is not his leading lady, instead we see Elena Anaya play the wife. You may recognise Anaya from Van Helsing and Sex and Lucia.

We’re looking forward to see how the audience reacts to this one at Cannes. How do you think it will go down?

You’ll be able to catch it in the UK from August 26.

Take a look at the trailer below

Organisers of the 64th festival have just announced the line up which will start with a screening of Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, which has got people talking for having France’s first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in it, albeit very briefly.

Interestingly Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the latest instalment of the popular Disney franchise, will also be be shown at the festival.

Johnny Depp returns to play his now almost iconic Captain Jack Sparrow and he is joined by Penelope Cruz.

On the Spanish theme, Pedro Almodovar’s latest film The Skin I Live In, starring Antonio Banderas is part of the main line up.

The festival marks the reunion between Mel Gibson and his Maverick co-star Jodie Foster in Beaver, about a depressed company executive who uses a beaver puppet to communicate with his family.

Hotly anticipated The Tree of Life from Terrence Malick, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn will also be competing.

Other films out of the 19 competing include This Must Be the Place, which is Paolo Sorrentino’s English language début starring Sean Penn as an ageing rock star. Lars Von Trier, who won the prestigious Palme d’Or for Dancer in the Dark in 2000, is back again with new film Melancholia, starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kiefer Sutherland. The adaptation of the best-selling Lionel Shriver novel We Need to Talk About Kevin is also in the running.

And the tough task of chairing the main competition jury goes to Robert De Niro this year. So, what are you most excited about seeing and who sound like potential winners?

For full line up and more information visit the official website here.

Black Gold, which also stars Freida Pinto and Tahar Rahim, is one of the biggest films to date to be made about the Arab world.

It is directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud (Enemy at the Gates) and is an adaptation of Hans Ruesch’s novel The Great Thirst. It has been co-written by Jean-Jacques Annaud and Alain Godard.

The story is of the rivalry between two emirs in Arabia and takes place in 1930s just as oil is being discovered in the area. One young dynamic leader takes it upon himself to unite the various tribes of the kingdoms.

Filming began back in October in Tunisia and has now moved to Qatar, where it is the first major, international project that has been filmed there.

Black Gold, which is being co-produced by the Doha Film Institute and Quinta Communications its epic storyline, a $55 million budget and a focus on the Arab world all mean its already making waves.

So, what do you think of the pictures? It does look pretty epic doesn’t it?

Pictures from David Koskas and Quinta. Antonio Banderas picture from the set of Black Gold in Qatar, co-produced by the Doha Film Institute (DFI) and Quinta Communications.
Desert picture from the set of Black Gold in Qatar, co-produced by the Doha Film Institute (DFI) and Quinta Communications.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is a romantic comedy staring Josh Brolin, Naomi Watts, Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Lucy Punch, and Freida Pinto.

The film seems to be not too dissimilar to ones we have seen from him before – the classic tale of tangled love lives and the search for happiness.

The trailer has already set tongues wagging due to the dead pan narration which explains the situations of various characters in the film.

The film, which is Allen’s 44th, comes as production has already started on his 45th film. It was originally screened at the Cannes Film Festival where it received mixed reviews.

It will be released in America on September 22nd.

Check out the exclusive trailer at yahoo. What do you think of it?

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810096268/video/20967189