Kiwi actor Karl Urban has beaten Keira Knightley and Colin Farrell to the top of the UK box office.

Urban stars in Dredd 3D - a remake of the 1995 Sylvester Stallone film Judge Dredd - that has beaten out strong competition from fellow remakes Anna Karenina and Total Recall to claim the number one spot.

It is the first R18 film to hit number one in the UK since Saw 3D in 2010.

Exact figures are still to be confirmed, but the release has taken more than a million pounds ($1.65 million) on its opening weekend, ahead of Knightley's Anna Karenina which had ticket sales of an estimated £980,000 ($1.6 million).

Urban's agent Imogen Johnson said the result was well earnt.

"After seeing Dredd 3D, it's no surprise both Karl and the film are getting rave reviews internationally - it's totally deserved, the film's a blockbuster hit."

Critics are calling Urban's performance outstanding, with Empire magazine saying "one of the things it gets absolutely, incontrovertibly right is Dredd himself. Karl Urban is excellent. Giving an iconic character the adaptation he deserved."

Created from the iconic British comic strip, the film is set against the backdrop of a future America where the streets of Mega-City One, running from Boston to Washington DC, is run by criminals.
 
The only force of order lies with the urban cops called "Judges" who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner.

Dredd 3D also stars Olivia Thirlby (Juno), Lena Headey (Game of Thrones), Domhnall Gleeson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) and Wood Harris (The Wire).

Earlier this week, Urban was listed as one of the top 10 actors in the world on the internet Movie Database (IMDB) weekly Starmeter index.
 
Dredd 3D opens in New Zealand on October 4.

- © Fairfax NZ News