Moviegoers continued to rush to the multiplexes to catch up on holiday
holdovers as the North American box office kicked off 2008 with robust ticket
sales that were led by mostly the same movies from last week. Nicolas Cage‘s
adventure sequel
National Treasure: Book of Secrets remained at number one for the
third straight frame, indie darling
Juno grew even
bigger jumping into third place, and Hollywood’s only new release
One Missed Call
settled for a fifth place finish although its debut was stronger than expected.
Uncovering an estimated $20.2M in its third expedition, the new
National Treasure installment retained its box office crown dropping
45% from last weekend. After only 17 days of release, the Disney blockbuster has
already grossed a stunning $171M nearly matching the $173M that the first film
grossed during its six-month run in theaters. Book of Secrets should
surpass that total on Monday or Tuesday and become Cage’s top-grossing film
ever.
The PG-rated adventure also raced past the studio’s own hit
Wild Hogs to rank
number 12 among all of 2007’s blockbuster hits. Secrets should crack the
top ten by next weekend joining a long list of other sequels which dominated
moviegoing last year. At its current pace, the Cage smash should end up in the
neighborhood of $220M domestically. Overseas, Book of Secrets broke
through the $100M mark this weekend and stands at a global tally of $271.6M and
counting.
There was a tight three-way race for the silver medal this weekend between
the last man on earth, a pregnant teen, and a trio of chipmunks. Studio
estimates put them within $375,000 of each other and rankings could change on
Monday once all of Sunday’s votes are counted.
Narrowly taking second place with an estimated $16.4M was
Will Smith‘s
superhit I
Am Legend dropping 40%. With a towering $228.7M in 24 days, the
action hit has become the third biggest blockbuster in the A-list actor’s career
trailing his mid-90s alien smashes
Independence
Day ($306.2M) and
Men in Black
($250.1M). Legend now ranks as the sixth highest-grossing film of 2007
and the second biggest non-sequel after
Transformers
($319.1M). Overseas, the Warner Bros. actioner enjoyed big number one bows in
Australia, New Zealand, and Greece and boosted its cume to $170.2M putting the
global tally at just under $400M. In North America, Legend seems on
course to conclude with $260-270M.
Fox Searchlight gave a major expansion to its runaway hit comedy
Juno widening it
from 1,019 to 1,925 locations and grossed an estimated $16.2M over the weekend.
The per-theater average dipped by only 19% to a sturdy $8,429. Independent films
that expand this wide rarely retain such strong averages. Word of mouth has been
propelling Juno on the charts and the PG-13 high school tale continues to
find new fans, especially with young women. The cume to date shot up to a
remarkable $52M with sizable potential still ahead.
Juno now looks set to reach a couple of major milestones at the box
office. It will easily surpass the $71.5M of
Sideways to become
the highest grossing film in company history for Searchlight. At its current
pace, the $2.5M-budgeted pregnancy pic will smash through the $100M mark and
could go much higher depending on added buzz the film may receive from Golden
Globe wins and Oscar nominations. The
Ellen Page hit
may even challenge Disney’s
Amy Adams comedy
Enchanted to become the top-grossing female-led film of the year.
Right behind with an estimated $16M was Fox’s comedy sensation
Alvin
and the Chipmunks which dropped by 45% in its fourth frame. The
PG-rated family film has now collected a massive $176.7M and is less than a week
away from surpassing the $183.1M of
The Simpsons Movie
to become the studio’s top-grossing film of 2007. It will also become one of
last year’s top ten overall blockbusters when it beats Homer and pals. Budgeted
at under $70M, Alvin should zoom past the double century mark and finish
with $210-220M.
The weekend’s only new release found itself with a solid fifth place debut.
One Missed Call,
a remake of a Japanese horror film, grossed an estimated $13.5M from 2,240
theaters for a strong $6,038 average. The PG-13 film was expected to open with
less than $10M. Warner Bros. marketed Call as a creepy thriller for teens
and young adults and scored impressive results. Not facing any other new openers
also helped.
The kid adventure The Water
Horse followed with an estimated $6.3M, off only 31%, for a take of
$30.9M. Look for roughly $50M by the end of its run.
Johnny Depp‘s
blood-soaked musical barber pic
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street fell 34% to an
estimated $5.4M for a $38.5M cume. The $50M DreamWorks/Warner Bros. venture
should reach a somewhat disappointing $50-55M from North America. Overseas
prospects look brighter.
Focus expanded its period romance
Atonement and
popped into the top ten in the ten spot. The
Keira
Knightley–James
McAvoy drama widened from 310 to 583 locations and collected an estimated
$5.1M. Its average of $8,789 was the best among all wide releases edging out
Juno’s $8,429. Nominated for seven Golden Globes, more than any other film,
Atonement has grossed $19.2M domestically plus $38.5M internationally. Next
weekend the love story bows in several major overseas markets such as France,
Spain, Sweden, and Brazil.
Two very different holiday season releases fell out of the top ten over the
weekend. The R-rated sci-fi thriller
Alien vs Predator: Requiem
tumbled 58% to an estimated $4.3M in its second weekend pushing the 13-day total
to $36.8M. Look for a $45M final gross marking a sharp fall from the $80.3M that
2004’s
Alien vs. Predator
collected.
Disney’s fairy tale comedy
Enchanted
dropped 43% to an estimated $3.7M in its seventh outing boosting the robust sum
to $119.7M. The PG-rated hit should be able to reach roughly $130M before
closing up shop.
Denzel
Washington‘s period drama
The Great Debaters
declined only 29% in its sophomore frame to an estimated $4.2M. With $22M in its
first 13 days, the MGM release looks to end up with a disappointing $35M overall
which would be less than the opening weekend of Washington’s last film
American Gangster.
Posting sensational numbers in limited release once again was one of the
year’s most acclaimed films
There Will Be
Blood which grossed an estimated $1.3M from only 51 theaters for a
stellar $26,216 average. Total sits at $1.8M. The Paramount Vantage release
picked up four major awards from the National Society of Film Critics this
weekend including the Best Picture trophy and is gearing up for another
expansion this Friday which will take it into 125 playdates. Blood is
slowly building itself up as a major Oscar contender and is already seen as a
shoo-in for a Best Picture nod when nominations are announced on January 22.
Also a major contender is
No Country For
Old Men which like Blood is a co-production between Paramount
Vantage and Miramax.
Warner Bros. saw a solid $315,000 from only 16 runs for its
Jack Nicholson–Morgan
Freeman pic The
Bucket List. Averaging an impressive $19,688, the Rob Reiner-directed
film opens nationwide in about 2,700 theaters this Friday hoping to boot Nicolas
Cage from the top spot.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $115.4M which was up a healthy 21%
from last year when
Night at the
Museum stayed at number one for the third weekend with $23.7M; and up
18% from 2005 when Hostel
debuted in the top spot with $19.6M.
Author: Gitesh Pandya, www.BoxOfficeGuru.com
