Rock N’ Roll
 Disco
 Kung-Fu
1
 National Treasure: Book of Secrets $20,225,000 (-43.3%) $5,376 $171,033,000
2
 I Am Legend $16,300,000 (-40.5%) $4,468 $228,638,000
3
 Juno $16,225,000 (+52.6%) $8,428 $52,032,000
4
 Alvin and the Chipmunks $16,000,000 (-44.9%) $4,621 $176,738,000
5
 One Missed Call $13,525,000 $6,037 $13,525,000
6
 Charlie Wilson’s War $8,184,000 (-31.9%) $3,154 $52,630,000
7
 P.S. I Love You $8,010,000 (-13.8%) $3,241 $39,378,000
8
 The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep $6,300,000 (-31.4%) $2,268 $30,893,000
9
 Sweeney Turbo: The Breakin’ Barber of Beat Street $5,400,000 (-34.1%) $4,323 $38,472,000
10
 Atonement $5,124,000 (+64.1%) $8,789 $19,216,000


Well, the story for the weekend is Juno, which has gone from being an indie darling to a darling darling. I thought there might be enough pull to get the title to a hundred million with some gentle nudging, and at this point I don’t think it’ll need a nudge at all. This is a bona-fide word of mouth smash hit. Fox Searchlight’s biggest hit to date appears to be Sideways, which got to $70, and that isn’t going to be a problem here. Juno backlash has kicked in a little, and Jeffery Wells has already started bitching and moaning about how Page and Cody don’t deserve to win (or perhaps even be nominated), but I don’t think that’s going to stop Juno from collecting at least three to four Oscar noms. I just hope Jason Reitman doesn’t get the light comic curse of being left out of the director’s five. We’ll know more when the DGA tells its tale.

Otherwise, One Missed Call opened in fifth place, and should have a final tally around $25 Million. This is generally a good weekend for counter-programming trash, but with Cloverfield less than two weeks away and Rambo a week after that, January’s got some real titles to wrassle with, and perhaps this PG-13 J-horror knock off is about three years past its sell-by date (it currently has a 0% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, though I’m not sure if Maxim has reviewed it yet), though it is interesting to think that this is the first Takashi Miike film to be translated for an American audience. Could Visitor Q and Ichi the Killer be far behind? Yes, they are very far behind.

Treasure, Legend and Alvin and the Chipmunks keep making money. Can I Am Legend get to $300? No. But it’s a question I can ask myself. It should peter out around $270-$280, but that’s a mighty number, especially since it seemed to be an opening weekend picture with the mixed word of mouth – it seems people actually like it enough to say things that are nice about it. And both Alvin and Treasure should get over $200. The final weeks of 2007 have provided some really strong grossing pictures, though one wonders if it’s timing. With Alvin and the Chipmunks… speaking of Takashi Miike, look at Jason Lee. In less than fifteen years he went from Mallrats to this. I mean he is on television now, but seriously, how did this happen? Do you blame the Scientology? Do you thank L. Ron? Dunno. Expect Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 to get green-lit the second the strike ends.

Come late Monday, not that anyone cares, I would not be surprised to find out that Juno was the #2 or #4 for the week. They’re all within spitting distance of each other, so there may be some bump and shuffle.

Otherwise, who thought P.S. I Love You would hit $40 million? It should get to fifty, and maybe it’ll keep playing niche, as it only dropped 14%. Charlie Wilson crossed $50, though it doesn’t get much better for the film, white The Water Arm crossed $30. Feel the thunder. Atonement has done well in limited release, and is cracking that top ten, but unless it gets some nominations (Keira’s pretty much a guarantee), this may be as good as it gets. If Atonement wants to get near $50, it better hope for some, so it’ll be duking it out with Sweeney for some academy lovin’.

January has been a good month for Ice Cube, so First Sunday could do some business. And we get Veggie Tales and Uwe Boll. Doctor! Mathew Lillard and Burt Reynolds together. Life is good. It’s so good.