Coen Brothers: 'True Grit was lucky'

Joel and Ethan Coen have said that they consider the box office success of True Grit to be down to 'luck' over the release date.

The directors - whose latest film grossed over $100m (£64m) this weekend, taking it to the top of the US box office - said that the performance of films such as The Tourist and How Do You Know did not suggest that True Grit would achieve such a result following its December 22 release.

Ethan told The Hollywood Reporter: "We were kinda lucky in the release date. Some of the would-be competitors, heavyweights, tanked. You're lucky in the wind you get at your back, a few weekends where the competition is not too strong."

Joel added: "You're in a business where people are constantly being surprised. Movies with big stars and real straight-ahead genre movies fail, and other things where people go out on a limb do great."

True Grit is released in the UK on February 11.