The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Be sure to check back on Monday for final figures based on actual box office.
The last weekend of the year was even busier than normal between the five new movies from last week and three new movies added on Tuesday, but while Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem (20th Century Fox) was expected to destroy all competition, that's not quite what happened, as it could barely hold its own against a number of returning movies including a little underrated indie that exploded over the holidays.
Even so, Jerry Bruckheimer's National Treasure: Book of Secrets (Disney) remained on top for a second weekend with $35.6 million, a 20% drop from its opening before Christmas, bringing its total to $124 million in just ten days. In their third weekend together, the family film Alvin and the Chipmunks (Fox) overtook Will Smith's sci-fi thriller I Am Legend (Warner Bros.) to take second place with $30 million and a cumulative gross of $142.4 million. Legend dropped to third with $27.5 million and $194.5 million total, putting it in line to cross the $200 million mark by the end of the year on Tuesday, placing it amongst the Top 10 grossers for 2007.
After opening on Christmas Day with $9.5 million in just over 2,500 theaters, Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem (20th Century Fox) quickly tanked, dropping drastically over the next few days to the point where it only made $10 million over the weekend and $26.8 million over the six days, roughly $10 million less than the original movie made in its first weekend.
Even more embarrassing for the creature battle sequel was that Fox Searchlight's indie comedy Juno beat it into the Top 5 by a mere quarter of a million dollars, grossing $10.3 million in its first wide release into less than a thousand theatres, seeing a 200% increase from before Christmas as it moved up five places. The award-nominated comedy from Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody and starring Ellen Page had the highest per-theatre average in the top 10 of roughly $10.3k per theatre, and it's grossed an astounding $25.7 million after less than a month in theaters.
Holding well in its second weekend, the Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts political comedy Charlie Wilson's War (Universal) remained at #4 with a 22% increase from its opening weekend, adding $11.8 million to its ten-day gross of $34.5 million, still a ways off from its estimated $75 million production budget.
Opening in seventh place, the family adventure film The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (Sony) grossed $9.2 million over the three-day weekend and $16.8 million in the six days since its Christmas opening.
The only other new movie this weekend, Denzel Washington's The Great Debaters (The Weinstein Co.) scored $6.3 million over the weekend in 1,171 theatres and another $7.2 million in the previous three days of the week. It wound up just outside the Top 10 in its first weekend defeated by Disney's Enchanted which finally crossed the $100 million this past week.
With the biggest increase from its pre-Christmas opening, P. S. I Love You (Warner Bros.) was up 40% but down two places as it grossed $9.1 million for eighth place and a total gross of $23.4 million. Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (DreamWorks) dropped four places to #9 with $8 million over the weekend and $26.7 million after ten days in moderate release. After a dismal opening, the Judd Apatow-produced musical comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story dropped out of the Top 10 altogether with a second weekend take of $3.7 million to bring its total to $12.2 million.
Opening on Wednesday in a mere two theaters, one in New York and the other in L.A., P.T. Anderson's fifth feature There Will Be Blood (Paramount Vantage), starring Daniel Day-Lewis, averaged an impressive $93k per theater, putting it on track to be one of the Top 15 per-theatre averages ever.
Opening on Christmas Day in select cities, Rob Reiner's The Bucket List (Warner Bros.) starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman grossed $618 thousand in 16 theaters over its first six days and a $20k per theater average over the weekend.
Presented by Guillermo del Toro, the Spanish ghost movie The Orphanage (Picturehouse) grossed $230 thousand in 19 theatres, an average of $12 thousand per theatre, while the animated festival favorite Persepolis averaged slightly more in 7 theatres to gross $167 thousand in the six days since opening on Christmas Day.
The top 10 grossed $158 million compared to the $134 million in the same post-Christmas weekend last year, although that didn't have nearly as many new movies opening, and New Year's Eve fell on a Sunday, which had a greater impact on the weekend numbers.
Comments (2)
At this point in the history of the AvP franchise, I would've payed money to see JUNO VS PREDATOR, but that's about it.
Posted by Trekscribbler![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.comingsoon.net/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
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January 7, 2008 6:26 AM
LOL! My money's on Juno... the PRedator will try to record what she says and its onboard computer would malfunction :)
Posted by EDouglas![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.comingsoon.net/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
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January 8, 2008 8:50 AM