| 1 |
National Treasure: Book of Secrets | $35,632,000 (-20.4%) | $9,298 | $124,035,000 |
| 2 |
Alvin and the Chipmunks | $30,000,000 (+6.5%) | $8,610 | $142,375,000 |
| 3 |
I Am Legend | $27,500,000 (-17.9%) | $7,563 | $194,575,000 |
| 4 |
Charlie Wilson’s War | $11,768,000 (+21.9%) | $4,570 | $34,506,000 |
| 5 |
Juno | $10,300,000 (+200.7%) | $10,320 | $25,681,000 |
| 6 |
Alien Vs. Predator – Requiem | $10,050,000 | $3,849 | $26,880,000 |
| 7 |
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep | $9,200,000 | $3,318 | $16,821,000 |
| 8 |
P.S. I Love You | $9,100,000 (+40.4%) | $3,693 | $23,398,000 |
| 9 |
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | $8,000,000 (-14.0%) | $6,405 | $26,719,000 |
| 10 |
Enchanted | $6,500,000 (+53.9%) | $2,873 | $110,650,000 |
Alvin and the Chipmunks went up 6% and is nearing $150 Million dollars. It’s this year’s Night at the Museum. On the positive side, David Cross hopefully made a lot of money being second billed in it. Maybe – like Patton Oswalt in Taxi – he thought no one would see it, so people wouldn’t notice how he took the check. Or maybe it was contractual obligation, or they paid him really well. I’m not the sort of person who’s gonna roast a dude for selling out. David Cross is still awesome, he’s just second billed in a very successful movie that I will never see – Oswalt has a good line about this in Heckler when someone insults Carrot Top for being in Chairman of the Board, even if integrity does mean something. And maybe kids will later on discover his comedy albums, or Mr. Show and that’s worth something. At this rate $200 should happen in about two weekends. On top of that, National Treasure 2 has made a lot of money as well. More than the majority of what will surely be mentioned in the Chud top fifteen lists. But this is the way of the world.
I Am Legend is also nearing $200, should get it tomorrow. Will Smith is great in it, even if the second half is way less interesting, but the second half may be what makes it successful. You do get a good performance in this poop. His status as one of the biggest stars in the world is unquestionable from this, and what he said to Jeremy Smith in his press conference about working with Michael Mann is very exciting, in that Smith can now – without question – get that film made. That’s so fucking good for us. This is why when bad films make money there’s hope. There’s hope that the director of Alvin and the Chipmunks has a good film in him, and he’ll get a chance to make it post this. That David Cross might be able to use his clout to get someplace better with the next film.
Charlie Wilson’s War also bucked trends and went up this weekend. Will Universal have a sleeper hit? No, but at least the film might make as much as it cost, and Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts should make a good combo for DVD sales. Unfortunately, it’s not an international picture, and I would be really surprised if it makes the fifth slot this year. Then again, I wouldn’t.
Speaking of likely Oscar nominees, Juno picked up in its expansion run and may yet cross over even further. The film manages to balance tones exceptionally well, and with the right amount of pushing by Fox Searchlight it could hit the nine digit mark. That may seem a stretch, but with a Best Picture nomination, and at least one award (right now I think it gets actress and not screenplay, I feel like that’s how it shakes out, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes the other way) it might get some bumps. But the 10 Mil on a little less that a thousand screens means that it’s playing and playing well. Again, Michael Cera’s gotta be feeling good about his quote.
AVP:Retarded opened to $9 Million on Christmas day and got to $10 this weekend. Smash and grab. Also, though the first got to $80, that’s out of the picture here. I would guess closer to Fifty. And Fox can feel good about going PG-13 on the first one. Never mind that both films suck. The Water Arm is dead, but nothing was expected of it. P.S. I Love You went up in gross, but it would take a miracle for it to hit Fifty. Maybe that miracle is spelled word of mouth, but I’m guessing Juno’s the better date movie, even if the subject matter doesn’t necessarily lead to people getting mad rutty.
Sweeney Todd better pray for some Academy loving. It looks to be this year’s Munich gross-wise. Walk Hard is flaccid. How’s that for a Cox joke? Sorry Judd. Sorry Jake. Sorry John-boy.
There Will Be Blood is a pretty amazing film, an easily the best thing that Paul Thomas Anderson has ever done, which is saying something (for most people). With two locations drumming up 90,000 a piece, New York and Los Angeles have been selling that film out. What does that say about it’s prospects? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The crossing over is going to be a problem, and the Academy has never been PTA crazy, so other than an absolute lock for Daniel Day Lewis, which could not be more deserved, it’s hard to say how good it gets for the film. It’s easy to talk about The Godfather and how successful it was. But never forget it featured gangsters, violence and sex. Same as it ever was. Next week most of this stuff will still be there. Taking a hit but playing about the same. Cause I can already see the punny headlines about One Missed Call not doing all that well. Can’t you?