Night at the Museum kept the partying going, taking the top spot at the North American box office for the third weekend in a row with $24 million.
“It plays from 8 to 80, and it plays from Maine to Maui,” Chris Aronson, senior vice president for distribution at 20th Century Fox told The Associated Press. “It’s one of those across-the-board hits that pleases everybody who sees it.”
Will Smith‘s The Pursuit of Happyness from Sony, finished second again with $13 million.The thriller Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men, starring Clive Owen, expanded its release to take third place with $10.3 million, while the teacher drama Freedom Writers, starring Hilary Swank, opened in fourth with $9.7 million. The animated fairy-tale farce Happily N’Ever After debuted in sixth place with $6.8 million.
The other newcomer this week, Cedric The Entertainer’s Code Name: The Cleaner, failed to make the top 10, grossing only $4.6 million.
The Top 12 movies grossed $106.2 million over the weekend, up .034 percent from last year’s draw of $105.9 million but down 26.01 percent from last weekend’s total of $143.6 million.
The Top Three films at the box office this time last year were: Lionsgate’s Hostel, which opened at No. 1 with $19.5 million in 2,195 theaters, averaging $8,909 per theater; Buena Vista’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which dropped to second place in its fourth week with $15.6 million in 3,514 theaters, averaging $4,452 per theater; and Universal’s King Kong, which stayed in third place in its second week with $12.6 million in 3,482 theaters, averaging $3,625 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: $24 million (-35%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 3,730 (-38)
• Per-theater average: $6,434
• Cume to date: $164 million
No. 2: The Pursuit of Happyness (Sony, PG-13)
• Gross: $13 million (-33%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 3,027 (+157)
• Per-theater average: $4,295
• Cume to date: $124.1 million
No. 3: Children of Men (Universal, R)
• Gross: $10.2 million (+1,955%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 1,209 (+157)
• Per-theater average: $8,515
• Cume to date: $11.9 million
No. 4: Freedom Writers (Paramount, PG-13)
• Gross: $9.7 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 1,360
• Per-theater average: $7,136
No. 5: Dreamgirls (Paramount, PG-13)
• Gross: $8.8 million (-37%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 852 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $10,358
• Cume to date: $54.4 million
No. 6: Happily N’Ever After (Paramount, PG-13)
• Gross: $6.8 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,381
• Per-theater average: $2,856
No. 7: Charlotte’s Web (Paramount, G)
• Gross: $6.6 million (-43%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 3,303 (-442)
• Per-theater average: $2,001
• Cume to date: $66.9 million
No. 8: The Good Shepherd (Universal, R)
• Gross: $6.5 million (-41%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 2,250 (+3)
• Per-theater average: $2,905
• Cume to date: $48.4 million
No. 9: Rocky Balboa (MGM, PG)
• Gross: $6.2 million (-41%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 3,018 (-1)
• Per-theater average: $2,077
• Cume to date: $60.8 million
No. 10: We Are Marshall (Warner Bros., PG)
• Gross: $5.1 million (-37%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 2,502 (-104)
• Per-theater average: $2,052
• Cume to date: $35.4 million
OTHER OPENINGS
Code Name: The Cleaner (New Line, PG-13)
• Gross: $4.5 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 1,736
• Per-theater average: $2,592
Thr3e (The Bigger Picture, PG-13)
• Gross: $740,000
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 458
• Per-theater average: $1,616
