|PIC1|Amazing Grace, a movie that traces the decades-long struggle of abolitionist William Wilberforce to end the African slave trade in the British Empire, has reached the US box office top 10 in its first weekend of release.

Despite being screened in fewer than 1,000 theatres, Amazing Grace has outperformed supernatural thriller Ghost Rider - by one dollar - on per-screen averages, according to CBN News.

Over the weekend (23-25 Feb), Ghost Rider, starring Nicholas Cage, was shown on 3,620 screens and averaged $5,441 (approx £2776) per screen. Amazing Grace was released on 791 screens with an average of $5,442 (approx £2776.50).

"The campaign to end the British slave trade happened more than 200 years ago but Wilberforce is still a revered figure, internationally," explained May-Lynn Chang of the movie's makers, Bristol Bay Productions. "We have seen similar enthusiasm from private screenings in the UK and Wilberforce is much better known on this side of the Atlantic. Many people who do not necessarily share Wilberforce's faith, still find the film powerful and inspirational. This isn't a ghetto movie."

Wilberforce committed 20 years of his life to awakening the conscience of a nation and ending the dehumanising slave trade in the British Empire. The UK release of the film, on 23 March, coincides with the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the UK (25 March 1807).

Amazing Grace boasts an impressive line-up of leading British actors including Ioan Gruffudd (Wilberforce), Michael Gambon, and Albert Finney as John Newton, the reformed slave ship captain and writer of the hymn from which the film derives its title. Benedict Cumberbatch and Rufus Sewell also star.

The film's director, Michael Apted, said: "Wilberforce is a wonderful example of somebody that would never compromise his beliefs but was also able to play the political game - something Gandhi, Luther King Jr or Mandela might do. That's what attracted me to the story."

Former Tory leader William Hague and Secretary of State for Education and Skills Alan Johnson are inviting fellow MPs to a special parliamentary screening of the film on Wednesday 21 March. Hague, Shadow Foreign Secretary, has written a new biography - William Wilberforce: The Life of the Great Anti-slave Trade Campaigner - due out in the summer.