Rani Mukherjee in Paheli

London, July 5 (Reuters): War of the Worlds, the latest film adaptation of H.G. Wells’s classic novel about alien-invasion, blasted the caped crusader off the top spot at British cinemas today.

Starring Tom Cruise as an ordinary working-class man facing the extraordinary task of saving his family from Martian tripod machines, the film took ?8.6 million in ticket sales, Screen International said.

Another new entry was Ram Gopal Verma’s Sarkar, which debuted at number 10. Paheli, a romantic folk tale from Rajasthan, moved down one to eighth place, bringing the number of Bollywood films in the top 10 list to two.

Batman Begins, starring Christian Bales and Katie Holmes, was down to number two while Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Mr and Mrs Smith moved down to third place.