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.
This was a busy pre-Christmas weekend with five new movies in wide release trying to shake up last week's juggernaut duo of Will Smith's I Am Legend (Warner Bros.) and the family comedy Alvin and the Chipmunks (Fox). The Top 10 did indeed look very different as it turned into a battle of the box office stars to see which of them could convince holiday travelers and shoppers to take in a movie amidst their Christmas planning.
The winner of that battle was clearly Nicolas Cage, starring in the first sequel of his career as he returned for producer Jerry Bruckheimer's National Treasure: Book of Secrets (Disney), which grossed an estimated $45.5 million in its opening weekend, an opening 30% higher than the original movie that might have been even higher if not for the pre-holiday downturn in theaters.
Dropping to second place, Will Smith's sci-fi thriller I Am Legend (Warner Bros.) took a 56% tumble to make room for the anticipated sequel, grossing $34.3 million in its second weekend after grossing over $100 million in its first week. With a gross of $137.5 million, it has already topped Ridley Scott's American Gangster as the biggest movie of the year's 4th quarter.
In third place, the family holiday comedy Alvin and the Chipmunks (Fox) wasn't hit nearly as hard in its second weekend, with a modest 35% drop from its astounding opening weekend, adding roughly $29 million to its impressive take of $84.8 million.
Fourth place was a tight race between four enormous box office stars with Johnny Depp and Tim Burton on one side and Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts on the other. While the former's take on the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (DreamWorks) won out on Friday, it was hit hard on Saturday, dropping down to fifth below the Hanks-Roberts political flick Charlie Wilson's War (Universal), which grossed an estimated $9.6 million to Sweeney Todd's $9.3 million. Granted, the Burton-Depp film was playing in half as many theatres as Charlie Wilson, and these estimates based on Friday and Saturday numbers could prove low for both movies if things pick up on Sunday.
For their second movie of '07 after Freedom Writers in January, Hilary Swank reteamed with Richard Lagravanese for the romantic comedy P. S. I Love You (Warner Bros.), which grossed an unimpressive $6.5 million in 2,454 theaters, although it should pick up that slack over the upcoming holiday week.
The one new movie that completely tanked this weekend was the third movie of the year from producer Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, Superbad), Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. Apparently putting John C. Reilly into a biopic spoof wasn't something that created much interest among the millions of fans of the duo's 2006 hit Talladega Nights, as it grossed a weak $4.1 million in 2,650 theatres, an abysmal average of $1,547 per theatre, for 8th place. (Still, it fared better than Jessica Simpson's Blonde Ambition, which averaged $162 in 8 Texas theaters on its way to a speedy DVD release. Ouch!!)
Returning movies filled the Top 10 with the family films Enchanted (Disney) and The Golden Compass (New Line) flanking Walk Hard in 7th and 9th place with roughly $4 million each. Enchanted is very close to hitting the $100 million mark while The Golden Compass has barely reached half that amount after three weeks.
Expanding into over 300 theaters, the pregnancy comedy Juno (Fox Searchlight) grossed an additional $3.4 million, moving into 10th place mere days before it expands nationwide into nearly 1,000 theaters on Christmas Day. It also pulled ahead of the Golden Globe nominated British drama Atonement (Focus), which grossed just under $2 million in a similar number of theaters as it dropped out of the Top 10.
Still, the Top 10 grossed an estimated $150 million over the three day weekend, up over 45% from the same weekend last year pointing to a very strong box office that should see a lot of business in the next ten days with three new movies opening on Tuesday.
