Studios and theater owners have been wondering if any of the magic of the summer was going to spill over into the holiday season. They don't have to wonder any longer, as they have several winners that will propel them to a strong finish for the year.
This weekend the highly anticipated return of Nicolas Cage in "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," didn't disappoint, as it took the No. 1 spot in competitive weekend, beating out Will Smith and "I am Legend." Treasure took in $45.5 million for its opener, earning a venue average of $11,874. That also solidly beat out the first National Treasure, which opened in 2004 to $35 million.
Treasure should play out well over the Christmas season.
Following up on its record breaking December opener of $77.2 million, I am Legend brought up the No. 2 spot for the weekend, finishing at an expected 56 drop from last weekend, with $34.2 million. Still not bad for the genre it represents. It'll be interesting to see if it holds for the holidays. Not being a family film may make it struggle some.
One thing to keep in mind for all these films, is performance is uniquely different with children out of school than it is at other times of the year, so weekend performance, while important, isn't the whole story, as people tend to jam into the theaters during this time of the year, and films can perform better than weekend numbers show.
Family-friendly film Alvin and the Chipmunks continues to surprise some, as it continued its strong performance, come in No. 3 with $29 million. That's only a 35 percent drop from its opening of $44 million. It should do well over the entire holiday, and bring a lot of Christmas cheer to Fox. So far it's already brought in close to $85 million for them, and could grab somewhere around $200 million before it's over.
Unsurprisingly, the too-fictional account of Charlie Wilson's War performed poorly, and I don't see it getting any legs. As I mentioned here, even though it's based on a true story, it was changed so much and tried to make the mythical connection between bin Laden and 9/11, that other than those that want to believe that, it's a real turn off. It's too bad, the real story would have been fun to see.
The film ended up fourth, but was only able to get $9.6 million for the weekend. It won't do much over the holidays, even with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.
Top ten for weekend:
| 1 | National Treasure: Book of Secrets | $45,500,000 |
| 2 | I Am Legend | $34,225,000 |
| 3 | Alvin and the Chipmunks | $29,000,000 |
| 4 | Charlie Wilson's War | $9,618,000 |
| 5 | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | $9,350,000 |
| 6 | P.S. I Love You | $6,505,000 |
| 7 | Enchanted | $4,152,000 |
| 8 | Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story | $4,100,000 |
| 9 | The Golden Compass | $3,980,000 |
| 10 | Juno | $3,400,000 |
Other Box Office Sites:
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