Chan plays a hapless martial arts hero in Rush Hour 3

The action adventure, which also stars Chris Tucker, earned �2.73m in its opening weekend, knocking The Simpsons Movie into to second place.

Transformers dropped to number three, while Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix also fell one place, to four.

Evan Almighty - the comedy sequel to the 2003 film Bruce Almighty - took �0.68m to round out the top five.

The film features The Office star Steve Carrell and Morgan Freeman.

UK AND IRELAND BOX OFFICE 1. Rush Hour 3 (�2.73m) 2. The Simpsons Movie (�2.17m) 3. Transformers (�1.38m) 4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (�1.06m) 5. Evan Almighty (�0.68m) 6. Hairspray (�0.61m) 7. Surf's Up (�0.60m) 8. Licence To Wed (�0.27m) 9. Shrek The Third (�0.17m) 10. Chak De India (�0.13m) Source: Screen Internationall

Hairspray - featuring John Travolta and Michelle Pfeiffer and based on a Broadway musical - dropped to sixth position, down just one place from last week.

New entries Surf's Up and Licence to Wed entered the chart at six and seven, with receipts of �0.6m and �0.27m respectively.

Bollywood film Chak De India debuted at number 10 with takings of �0.13m, nudging Bruce Willis' Die Hard 4.0 out of the top 10.