Steven Spielberg's con caper Catch Me If You Can has taken the top spot at the UK box office, knocking Eminem movie 8 Mile from pole position.

The film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as real-life con-man Frank W Abagnale, took almost £4m in its first three days of release.

That figure could not be matched by the Eminem movie 8 Mile, which had previously topped the chart for two weeks.

UK box office

1. Catch Me If You Can 2. 8 Mile 3. Chicago 4. The Two Towers 5. Gangs of New York source: Screen International

8 Mile, which stars Eminem as wannabe rapper Jimmy Smith Jr, made nearly £1.5m over the weekend, giving the film a total in ticket sales of £11m.

Oscar-tipped musical Chicago fell from second position to third, taking 1.2m over the weekend.

The movie of the stage show, which stars Renèe Zellweger, Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta Jones, is currently riding high elsewhere.

The movie won three major gongs at the Golden Globe Awards and is leading the Baftas battle with 12 nods.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers has fallen to fourth place in the UK box office chart, followed by Gangs of New York.

Director Martin Scorsese's epic film, which also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, took £673,158 over the weekend, a reasonably low amount compared with The Lord of the Rings, which made just over £1m.

About Schmidt, I Spy, Ghost Ship, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and The Tuxedo complete the top 10.