It was fun while it lasted, but at least he has the pleasure of kowing that he owns the month of December with the highest opening ever. Will Smith's I Am Legend, which made out with about $77 million dollars last week, a new box office record for the month, dropped over 55% in its second weekend to land in second place with $34 million dollars. The total take of the film is $137 million dollars.
Landing in first place, as expected, was the sequel 'National Treasure: Book of Secrets', which stars Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Diane Kruger, and Justin Bartha. The film brought in $45 million dollars from 3832 theaters and a robust $11, 873 average. The film also features Oscar winner Helen Mirren and Ed Harris.
Dropping only 34% to claim 3rd place was the family friendly film, 'Alvin and the Chipmunks', which amassed $29 million dollars over the weekend. The critic proof film has generated about $85 million dollars so far.
According to boxofficeguru.com, far back in fourth place was the Tom Hanks-Julia Roberts entry 'Charlie Wilson's War' which led all other new releases this weekend with an estimated $9.6M. Playing in 2,575 theaters, the R-rated pic averaged a mediocre $3,736 per venue. Universal is hoping that this older-skewing film will find its audience in the long run over the holidays and into January. Charlie nabbed five Golden Globe nominations, the second most of any film after Atonement's seven, and cost $75M to produce. Reviews were generally positive. Studio research showed that 52% of the audience was female, 88% was Caucasian, and 80% was over the age of 30.
The latest Johnny Depp film, 'Sweeney Todd' did well despite playing in limited theaters. The film, based on the Broadway play, brought in $9.5 million dollars while playing in 1250 theaters. With a $50 million dollar budget and 4 Golden Globe nominations, the film should expand in the coming weeks and pick up a bigger audience.
With Best Actress Oscars to her credit, Hilary Swank still can't find an audience when she headlines a film. Her latest, 'P.S I Love You' failed to bring in romantics over the weekend with a dismal $6.5 showing. Earlier this year, she starred in 'Freedom Writers' and 'The Reaping', which also bombed at the box office. Also, after hits with 'Superbad' and 'Talledega Nights', the midas touch seems to be waering off as the Judd Apatow's latest production, 'Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story' only mustered up a little over $4 million at the gate. Despite good and mixed reviews, there was basically too much competition out there that someone had to suffer.
Also 'The Perfect Holiday' managed to drag in $1 million for a dismal $4 million since opening last week. Where's the love for Queen Latifah, Gabrielle Union, and Terrence Howard? I guess it went elsewhere as well.
On the indie front, 'Juno' is gaining momentum as it made $3.4 million from just 304 theaters and landed some Golden Globes nomination.
1. The way movies are monitored for success is in doubt. If I had a way to order movies directly into my home first run, that would accurately monitor the success and appeal of the movie or star. Going to a theatre is "Old School." There are several movies that would have received more credit, but they just weren't good enough to cover the cost of regular admission.
Cecil Jones at 10:04AM on Dec 24th 2007