The numbers, Dec. 28-30, 2007

THE TOP TEN		Weekend	Theaters	Avg.	Total Gross	%+-	Wks	Distributor
1	National Treasure: Book of Secrets	$35,632,000	3,832	$9,299	$124,035,000	-20.4	2	Buena Vista
2	Alvin and the Chipmunks	$30,000,000	3,484	$8,611	$142,375,000	6.5	3	Fox
3	I Am Legend	$27,500,000	3,636	$7,563	$194,575,000	-17.9	3	Warner Bros.
4	Charlie Wilson's War	$11,768,000	2,575	$4,570	$34,506,000	21.9	2	Universal
5	Juno	$10,300,000	998	$10,321	$25,681,000	200.7	4	Fox Searchlight
6	Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem	$10,050,000	2,611	$3,849	$26,880,000	--	1	Fox
7	The Water Horse	$9,200,000	2,772	$3,319	$16,831,000	--	1	Sony
8	P.S. I Love You	$9,100,000	2,464	$3,693	$23,398,000	40.4	2	Warner Bros.
9	Sweeney Todd	$8,000,000	1,249	$6,405	$26,719,000	-14.0	2	Paramount
10	Enchanted	$6,500,000	2,262	$2,874	$110,650,000	53.9	6	Buena Vista

The numbers, Dec. 21-23, 2007

THE TOP TEN		Weekend	Theaters	Avg.	Total Gross	%+-	Wks	Distributor
1	National Treasure: Book of Secrets	$44,783,772	3,832	$11,687	$44,783,772	--	1	Buena Vista
2	I Am Legend	$33,503,201	3,620	$9,255	$136,768,494	-56.6	2	Warner Bros.
3	Alvin and the Chipmunks	$28,179,556	3,499	$8,054	$84,046,353	-36.4	2	Fox
4	Charlie Wilson's War	$9,656,250	2,575	$3,750	$9,656,250	--	1	Universal
5	Sweeney Todd	$9,300,805	1,249	$7,447	$9,300,805	--	1	Paramount
6	P.S. I Love You	$6,481,221	2,454	$2,641	$6,481,221	--	1	Warner Bros.
7	Enchanted	$4,222,859	2,752	$1,534	$98,421,252	-23.7	5	Buena Vista
8	Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story	$4,174,383	2,650	$1,575	$4,174,383	--	1	Sony
9	The Golden Compass	$3,980,000	2,953	$1,348	$48,418,000	-54.9	3	New Line
10	Juno	$3,425,045	304	$11,267	$6,409,721	139.9	3	Fox Searchlight

'I Am Legend' tops weekend of Dec. 14-16

Two massive debuts, including a record breaking opening from Will Smith's I Am Legend rocketed the box office to its biggest non-holiday December weekend in history. It was largely thanks to Warner Bros.' sci-fi action remake, which took in a frightening $76.5 million, averaging $21,224 from 3,606 theaters. I Am Legend gave Will Smith by far the biggest opening of his career, blowing past I, Robot's $52.1 million back in 2004. It was also the actor's seventh straight No. 1 debut and eleventh overall.

With New Line's big budget The Golden Compass performing well below expectations all signs pointed to a big debut from the Will Smith starrer. Warner Bros. gave the film a massive and effective marketing campaign that peaked the interest of a wide ranging demographic. Carrying a PG-13 rating, the film became the biggest December opening of all-time, surpassing 2003's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King with $72.6 million. An adaptation of Richard Matheson's dark 1954 novel about the last man on Earth, I Am Legend is the third film adaptation to hit the big screen, following 1964's The Last Man on Earth and 1971's Charlton Heston starrer The Omega Man. To entice audiences to watch I Am Legend in the 77 Imax theaters the film was released in, Warner Bros. attached a six-minute prologue for next summer's hotly-anticipated The Dark Knight.

Debuting in second with a jaw-dropping $45 million was Fox's family comedy Alvin and the Chipmunks, which crushed nearly every industry projection for the weekend. It was the second biggest debut of the year for a PG-rated film, trailing only Shrek the Third's $121.6 million. Despite being hammered by critics the film became the defacto family offering for the weekend, completely dominating competitor The Golden Compass for the crucial family demographic. That film took a troubling 65% drop from its opening weekend to $9 million, bringing its ten-day take to just $41 million. Budgeted at an astronomical $180 million, the New Line release could spell the end for the financially troubled studio. New Line sold the rights to the film's international box office, which has accumulated $50 million since its opening last week.

Disney's surprise hit Enchated slipped 44% to $6 million, bringing its four-week cume to $92.3 million. Starring Amy Adams, the film should finish with $110 million domestically. Riding high off its four Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture (Drama) was the Coen brothers' acclaimed No Country For Old Men, which took in an estimated $3 million this weekend. Its total now stands at $33.6 million.

In sixth was the romantic comedy debut The Perfect Holiday, which took in just $3 million from 1,307 theaters.

Thanks to much larger than expected debuts from both I Am Legend and Alvin and the Chipmunks, the top ten films amassed an incredible $150.8 million, up 47% from last year's comparable frame when Will Smith's The Pursuit of Happyness took the top spot with $26.5 million. Legend and Alvin accounted for an incredible 75% of all ticket sales this weekend.

The numbers, Dec. 14-16, 2007

THE TOP TEN		Weekend	Theaters	Avg.	Total Gross	%+-	Wks	Distributor
1	I Am Legend	$76,535,000	3,606	$21,224	$76,535,000	--	1	Warner Bros.
2	Alvin and the Chipmunks	$45,000,000	3,475	$12,950	$45,000,000	--	1	Fox
3	The Golden Compass	$9,025,000	3,528	$2,558	$40,968,000	-65.0	2	New Line
4	Enchanted	$6,004,000	3,066	$1,958	$92,271,000	-43.9	4	Buena Vista
5	No Country For Old Men	$3,000,000	1,348	$2,226	$33,562,000	-27.1	6	Miramax
6	The Perfect Holiday	$2,965,000	1,307	$2,269	$3,612,000	--	1	Yari Film Group
7	Fred Claus	$2,305,000	2,750	$838	$68,964,000	-50.0	6	Warner Bros.
8	This Christmas	$2,300,000	1,921	$1,197	$46,043,000	-53.6	4	Sony
9	Atonement	$1,853,000	117	$15,838	$2,964,000	132.5	2	Focus
10	August Rush	$1,785,000	2,007	$889	$28,065,000	-49.2	4	Warner Bros.

New Line's 'Golden Compass' disappoints with $25.7m, Dec. 7-9

New Line executives have known for quite some time that their $180 million budgeted fantasy pic The Golden Compass had some significant hurdles to climb. First of all, the film's massive production costs went way over-budget due to last minute director changes and extremely demanding visual effects shots. Secondly, the film unsurprisingly caught the ire of the ultra-conservative Catholic League, which urged all Catholics to boycott the film on the grounds of its anti-Church-themed source material (Philip Pullman's trilogy "His Dark Materials"). Thirdly, despite a hefty marketing push, the studio had done little to generate significant buzz for the film, having been tracking poorly for the past few weeks.

There were also positives heading into the weekend, most notably a prime release date for its own, the fairly strong popularity of Pullman's "Dark Materials" books and the huge successes of similar big-budget fantasy books-turned-feature films Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia, which have averaged $250-300 million a piece domestically. In the end the debut of The Golden Compass was neither the hit New Line was praying for, nor the flop execs had feared. Instead, the big budget fx pic debuted with a disappointing but not dreadful $25.7 million, averaging a top ten best $7,308 in 3,528 theaters. Opening below the $35-40 million projections the studio and many analysts had predicted, the PG-13 release was hurt by poor reviews (just a 43% recommendation rating from critics polled byRottentomatoes.com) and strong direct competition by way of Disney's hit Enchanted.

The debut was under the $27.5 million opening of Robert Zemeckis's violent computer-generated Beowulf, and nowhere close to the lofty openings of Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia. Narnia became Disney's answer to Warner's Harry Potter franchise when it debuted with $65.6 million on its way to $291.7 million domestically in 2005. The latest Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opened with $77.1 million on its way to $292 million domestically. New Line essentially bet the farm on Compass becoming their next cash cow franchise, following the critical and box office success of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and when all is said and done, they may pay dearly for their gamble. The studio sold the rights for international distribution of the film, and that is likely where most of its earnings will take place. The film took in a fantastic $55 million overseas in 25 markets ($18m in the UK alone). Look for the ChrisWeitz directed pic to barely break $100 million in its domestic run, well short of its reported $180 million budget.

Disney's family hit Enchanted slipped a notch to second with $10.7 million, pushing its 19-day take to $83.9 million. At its current paceook for the PG-rated comedy to continue playing well throughout December, and finish with $120 million domestically.

This holiday's sleeper-hit This Christmas fell to third with $5 million, bringing its three week total to $42.8 million. Budgeted at just $13 million, the film should become one of the most profitable for Sony this year. Fred Claus continued to play well, falling just 15% to $4.7 million this weekend. Released by Warner Bros., the Vince Vaugn-Paul Giamatti comedy has grossed $65.6 million, and could reach $80 million domestically by the end of its run.

Rounding out the top five and clearly suffering from the Golden Compass debut was Paramount's $150 million budgeted 3d epic Beowulf, which took in $4.4 million. Its four week take now stands at a disappointing $76 million. Overseas the film has grossed $91.6 million, bringing its worldwide take to $167.6 million.

Following its Best Film award by the National Board of Review, the Coen Bros.' critically-acclaimed No Country for Old Men fell a top ten best 3.5% to $4.2 million, bringing its five week cume to $28.9 million. A front-runner for Best Film at the Academy Awards, the film should continue to play well through the next two months.

In limited release, Fox Searchlight's quirky teen comedy Juno took in an incredible $420,000 in just seven theaters in NYC and LA for a $60,016 average.

As for the box office, the top ten films finished the weekend with just $68 million, down a hefty 18% from last year's comparable frame when Mel Gibson's Apocalypto opened at No. 1 with $15 million. It was down a whopping 40% from 2005 when The Chronicles of Narnia opened with $65.6 million.

The numbers, Dec. 7-9, 2007

THE TOP TEN		Weekend	Theaters	Avg.	Total Gross	%+-	Wks	Distributor
1	The Golden Compass	$26,125,000	3,528	$7,405	$26,125,000	--	1	New Line
2	Enchanted	$10,706,000	3,520	$3,041	$83,865,000	-34.7	3	Buena Vista
3	This Christmas	$5,000,000	1,879	$2,661	$42,760,000	-37.0	3	Sony
4	Fred Claus	$4,660,000	3,185	$1,463	$65,589,000	-15.3	5	Warner Bros.
5	Beowulf	$4,400,000	2,976	$1,478	$75,983,000	-46.4	4	Paramount
6	No Country For Old Men	$4,233,000	1,324	$3,197	$28,861,000	-3.5	5	Miramax
7	August Rush	$3,525,000	2,310	$1,526	$25,148,000	-29.8	3	Warner Bros.
8	Hitman	$3,475,000	2,418	$1,437	$35,810,000	-42.3	3	Fox
9	Awake	$3,301,000	2,023	$1,632	$10,716,000	-43.6	2	MGM
10	Bee Movie	$2,612,000	2,707	$965	$121,028,000	-41.2	6	Paramount

'Enchanted' tops leftovers weekend, Nov. 30-Dec. 2

With moviegoers still recovering from force-feeding days of turkey leftovers, the box office hit its annual post-Thanksgiving lull as the top three films of last weekend remaining unchanged this week. The weekend's lone new release, MGM's thriller Awake, debuted in a disappointing fourth place.

Topping the box office for the second consecutive weekend was Disney's animated/live-action family film Enchanted, which took in $16.4 million. In 12 days of release, the Amy Adams starrer has amassed $70 million. With the meat of the Holiday season still ahead, look for this well-reviewed Disney hit to finish close to $150 million domestically.

In second place once again was the surprise hit This Christmas, which has already turned a tidy profit for Sony. Falling 53% to $8.2 million, the $13 million budgeted pic has grossed $36.9 million in two weeks. In third was Paramount's $150 million budgeted cg pic Beowulf, which added another $7.8 million to its treasure chest, pushing its three week total to $68.6 million.

The weekend's only wide release debut was a disappointing one as MGM's thriller Awake limped into fourth place with $5.8 million, averaging a weak $3,002 in 2,002 theaters. Starring Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba, the film suffered from poor reviews and never gained traction with moviegoers.

In other box office news, New Line Cinema sneaked its $180 million budgeted fantasy epic The Golden Compass on Saturday in 873 theaters, hoping to peak interest and word of mouth heading into its opening weekend next week. The film hasn't been tracking particularly well, and New Line has essentially gambled its entire year on this one release.

Outside of Enchanted the lack of another major box office player thus far in the Holiday season has led to a 10% drop from last year's comparable frame, when Happy Feet and Casino Royale led the weekend with $17.5 million and $15.2 million respectively. That could all turnaround when this Holiday's most expensive feature, The Golden Compass makes its anticipated debut.

The numbers, Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 2007

THE TOP TEN		Weekend	Theaters	Avg.	Total Gross	%+-	Wks	Distributor
1	Enchanted	$16,403,316	3,730	$4,398	$70,000,316	-52.4	2	Buena Vista
2	Beowulf	$8,208,565	3,249	$2,526	$68,939,986	-50.4	3	Paramount
3	This Christmas	$7,941,068	1,858	$4,274	$36,431,987	-55.8	2	Sony
4	Hitman	$6,021,927	2,468	$2,440	$30,426,328	-54.3	2	Fox
5	Awake	$5,856,872	2,002	$2,926	$5,856,872	--	1	MGM
6	Fred Claus	$5,501,437	3,420	$1,609	$59,784,054	-48.0	4	Warner Bros.
7	August Rush	$5,021,435	2,310	$2,174	$20,225,907	-46.7	2	Warner Bros.
8	The Mist	$4,553,008	2,423	$1,879	$19,563,276	-49.0	2	MGM
9	Bee Movie	$4,444,798	3,150	$1,411	$117,616,494	-62.4	5	Paramount
10	No Country For Old Men	$4,385,290	995	$4,407	$22,914,851	-43.6	4	Miramax