The first Terminator movie for 12 years has won its box office fight with sequels to Legally Blonde and Charlie's Angels.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was top of the US and Canada weekend cinema chart.

Terminator 3 - which sees the long-awaited return of Arnold Schwarzenegger - took £43.5m between Wednesday and Sunday, according to early estimates.

That was 40% more than Terminator 2: Judgment Day took in 1991 - but, taking price changes into account, the latest film sold slightly fewer tickets.

Industry newspaper Variety said its takings "fell short" of most estimates.

Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003), starring Reese Witherspoon, earned £23.5m to take second place.

And last week's number one, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), was pushed to number three, with £8.5m.

Animated film Sinbad - with voices from Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer - only managed to enter the chart at number six.

It was behind the big screen version of Hulk, The (2003), which was at number five after just two weeks in cinemas.

Source: Press Release