HOLLYWOOD - National Treasure is enjoying quite a ride at the box office.For the third week in a row, the Nicolas Cage/Jerry Bruckheimer action adventure held onto the No. 1 spot, while the comedy Christmas With the Kranks took second with $11.7 million.
"Nicolas Cage and Jerry Bruckheimer are always a force to be reckoned with, but to have this film at No. 1 for three weeks, I don't think anyone saw that coming," Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations told The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Mike Nichol's drama Closer, about a quartet of Londoners (Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen) who fall in and out of love with each other over the course of a few years, opened limitedly in sixth place with a respective $7.7 million, earning the highest per theater average ($16,176) on the Top 10 list.
This weekend, the Top 12 films grossed an estimated $80.2 million, down considerably 46.86 percent from last weekend's $151 million take and down 10.15 percent from last year's draw of $89.3 million.
The top three films at the box office this time last year were: Warner Bros. R-rated The Last Samurai, which opened at the No. 1 spot with $24.2 million in 2,908 theaters, averaging $8,346 per theater; Universal's PG-13 rated Honey, which debuted in second place with $12.8 million in 1,942 theaters, averaging $6,620 per theater; and Buena Vista's PG-rated The Haunted Mansion, which dropped to third place in its second week with $9.3 million in 3,122 theaters, averaging $3,009 per theater.
BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES:
(Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: National Treasure (Buena Vista, PG)
• Gross: $17.1 million (-47%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 3,243 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $5,286
• Cume to date: $110.2 million
No. 2: Christmas with the Kranks (Sony Pictures, PG)
• Gross: $11.7 million (-46%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 3,416 (+23)
• Per-theater average: $3,425
• Cume to date: $45.4 million
No. 3: The Polar Express (Warners Bros., G)
• Gross: $11 million (-43%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 3,650 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $3,019
• Cume to date: $96.3 million
No. 4: The Incredibles (Buena Vista/Pixar, PG)
• Gross: $9.1 million (-61%)
• Weeks opened: 5
• Theaters: 3,178 (-275)
• Per-theater average: $2,882
• Cume to date: $226 million
No. 5: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (Paramount Pictures, PG)
• Gross: $7.8 million (-56%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 3,307 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $2,359
• Cume to date: $68.3 million
No. 6: Closer (Sony Pictures, R)
• Gross: $7.7 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 476
• Per-theater average: $16,176
No. 7: Alexander (Warner Bros., R)
• Gross: $4.7 million (-65%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,445 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $1,933
• Cume to date: $29.6 million
No. 8: Finding Neverland (Miramax, PG)
• Gross: $2.8 million (-39%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 526 (+13)
• Per-theater average: $5,421
• Cume to date: $11.7 million
No. 9: Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason (Universal, R)
• Gross: $2.8 million (-55%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 2,433 (-36)
• Per-theater average: $1,151
• Cume to date: $36.3 million
No. 10: Ray (Universal, PG-13)
• Gross: $1.9 million (-52%)
• Weeks opened: 6
• Theaters: 1,547 (-2)
• Per-theater average: $1,228
• Cume to date: $67.8 million
OTHER OPENINGS
House of Flying Daggers (Sony Pictures Classics, PG-13)
• Gross: $417,020
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 15
• Per-theater average: $27,801