A strong summer at the UK cinema looks like an increasingly realistic prospect following three impressive days at the box office.

Cinemas were permitted to open their doors at 50% capacity on Monday, and film-lovers eager for a fix – or appalled by the weather – showed little hesitancy following seven months of smaller screens.

Wednesday’s total was estimated to be around £760,000, up 41% from Tuesday, in part because of 120 Cineworld sites reopening that day, having remained closed on Monday and Tuesday. The three-day total is around £2.8m.

Topping the chart is Peter Rabbit 2, the sequel to the 2018 hit, whose release has been long delayed because of the pandemic. Other healthy performers include Nomadland and Godzilla vs Kong, with audiences opting to see them on the big screen despite their availability on streaming platforms.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw and The Unholy are also in the Top 5, with the bottom of the Top 10 entirely dominated by Warner Bros titles: Mortal Kombat, Judas and the Black Messiah, Those Who Wish Me Dead, Tom & Jerry and The Little Things.

This Friday’s releases include Billie Piper’s anti romcom Rare Beasts, with Disney hoping to woo the half term crowd the following Friday with Cruella, the 101 Dalmatians origins story starring Emma Stone.

Cinemas had hoped to see their capacity restrictions lifted on 21 June in line with the wider measures, but questions are now being raised over the feasibility of such actions.