Things are looking a lot clearer now that we have the actual box office for the pre-Christmas weekend but most of our weekend predictions remain fairly close with a few exceptions. (Unfortunately, we didn't get any screen counts for the weekend, which doesn't help matters.)
Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem did better than expected on Tuesday but quickly tanked on Wednesday, so it's looking like it will end up more in the $15 million range for the weekend. The Water Horse will probably end up just slightly under our earlier prediction and Juno will wind up well above. As expected many of the movies that opened last weekend are having strong legs over the week but we'll see how that translates over the weekend. The big surprise is how Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's Sweeney Todd continues to drop while other movies pick up business so we may see Hilary Swank's P.S. I Love You overtake it, if it maintains the business it's picked up over the holidays.
1. National Treasure: Book of Secrets (Disney) - $40.5 million - 11% (same)
2. I Am Legend (Warner Bros.) - $27.3 million - 19% (down .7 million)
3. Alvin and the Chipmunks (Fox) - $23.8 million - 16% (down .8 million)
4. Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem (Fox) - $15.3 million N/A (Down $2.5 million!)
5. Charlie Wilson’s War (Universal) - $11.3 million +18% (Up .7 million)
6. The Water Horse (Sony) - $9.8 million N/A (down 1 million)
7. P.S. I Love You (Warner Bros.) - $8.4 million +29% (up .9 million)
8. Sweeney Todd (DreamWorks) - $8.2 million - 12% (up .4 million)
9. The Great Debaters (The Weinstein Co.) $7.6 million N/A (same)
10. Juno (Fox Searchlight) - $6.9 million +59% (up $1.5 million)
