DHAKA: A special screening of ‘Billy Elliot’ the Musical Live has topped the UK and Ireland box office, a first for an event cinema release.

Sunday’s live stream from London Victoria’s Palace took a record £1.9m, the BBC publishes this report on Tuesday.

It was also the widest ever release of a live event, screened at 553 locations around the UK including the former Easington Colliery Miners’ Institute, one of the settings of the musical.

Denzel Washington’s ‘The Equalizer’ opened at two with £1.89m.

The film, based on the 1980s US TV series, screened at 96 fewer locations than ‘Billy Elliot’ however, which was shown at many regional venues including town halls and theatres hosting special screenings.

The musical beat the previous event cinema record set by the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special ‘The Day of the Doctor’ last year, which took £1.8m across 440 locations.

BDST: 1611 HRS, OCT 01, 2014