Ben Stiller‘s midas touch was at work again. His latest comedy Night at the Museum debuted on top of the North American box office over the holiday weekend, grossing $30.8 million.
Museum didn’t quite top Stiller’s highest opener, Meet the Fockers, which took in $46.1 million in 2004, but now stands as his second biggest debut.
Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone’s re-entry into the boxing ring after 20 years, opened in third place with $12.5 million, with a total of $22.1 million since opening Wednesday.
Also opening this week was The Good Shepherd, a saga about the early days of the CIA directed by Robert De Niro and starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, which took fourth place with $10 million. The new football drama We Are Marshall, meanwhile, debuted in sixth place with $6.6 million.
Christmas weekend is always crowded as studios cram in family flicks and films angling for awards attention. This holiday weekend seemed even more packed than usual, Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers, told The Associated Press.
“I think the movies are beating up on each other a little bit because there’s so many jockeying for position,” Dergarabedian said. “I don’t know how people find time to see all these films. I think it’s probably overwhelming for a lot of moviegoers.”
The Top 12 movies grossed $111.2 million over the weekend, up 10.46 percent from last year’s draw of $100.7 million and up .037 percent from last weekend’s total of $110.8 million.
The Top Three films at the box office this time last year were: Universal’s King Kong, which stayed at No. 1 in its second week of release with $21.2 million in 3,576 theaters, averaging $9,305 per theater; Buena Vista’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which stayed in second place in its third week with $19.7 million in 3,853 theaters, averaging $8,225 per theater; and Sony’s Fun with Dick and Jane, which opened in third place with $14.3 million in 3,056 theaters, averaging $7,045 per theater (Click here to read last year’s box office report).
BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES
(Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: Night at the Museum (20th Century Fox, PG)
• Gross: $30.8 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3,685
• Per-theater average: $9,467
No. 2: The Pursuit of Happyness (Sony, PG-13)
• Gross: $15 million (-43%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,863 (+11)
• Per-theater average: $5,239
• Cume to date: $53.2 million
No. 3: Rocky Balboa (MGM, PG)
• Gross: $12.6 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3,017
• Per-theater average: $4,201
• Cume to date: $22.3 million (opened Wednesday)
No. 4: The Good Shepherd (Universal, R)
• Gross: $9.9 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,215
• Per-theater average: $4,505
No. 5: Charlotte’s Web (Paramount, G)
• Gross: $8 million (-30%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 3,728 (+162)
• Per-theater average: $2,146
• Cume to date: $26.8 million
No. 6: Eragon (20th Cent. Fox, PG)
• Gross: $7.1 million (-69%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 3,030 (+10)
• Per-theater average: $2,360
• Cume to date: $23.2 million
No. 7: We Are Marshall (Warner Bros., PG)
• Gross: $6.6 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,606
• Per-theater average: $2,548
No. 8: Happy Feet (Warner Bros., PG)
• Gross: $5.1 million (-38%)
• Weeks opened: 6
• Theaters: 2,565 (-770)
• Per-theater average: $2,006
• Cume to date: $159.1 million
No. 9: The Holiday (Sony Pictures, PG)
• Gross: $5 million (-38%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 2,617 (+3)
• Per-theater average: $1,911
• Cume to date: $35 million
No. 6: Apocalypto (Buena Vista, R)
• Gross: $27.9 million (-49%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,465 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $3,133
• Cume to date: $27.9 million
No. 10: The Nativity Story (New Line, PG)
• Gross: $4.7 million (+2%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 1,824 (-750)
• Per-theater average: $2,603
• Cume to date: $31.4million
OTHER OPENINGS
Curse of the Golden Flower (Sony Pictures Classics, R)
• Gross: $489,139
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 60
• Per-theater average: $8,152
Letters From Iwo Jima (Warner Bros., R)
• Gross: $76,000
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 5
• Per-theater average: $15,200
The Painted Veil (Warner Indie, PG-13)
• Gross: $44,000
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 4
• Per-theater average: $11,000
Venus (Miramax, R)
• Gross: $36,237
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3
• Per-theater average: $12,079
