WILL SMITH - TREASURE GROWS BY $55.4 MILLION

TREASURE GROWS BY $55.4 MILLION

As expected, National Treasure: Book of Secrets remained No. 1 at the box office, taking in an estimated $55.4 million over the five-day New Year's holiday. What wasn't expected was the strong $42.2-million take of Alvin and the Chipmunks, which surged ahead of the Will Smith thriller I Am Legend, which slipped to third place with $38 million. (However, it crossed the $200-million mark in total sales, as it brought its gross to date to $205.1 million.) Also surprising analysts was the poor performance of 20th Century Fox's Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, which took in just $10.1 million. Charlie Wilson's War, which got off to a slow start, continued to show solid results as it tallied $20.5 million in ticket sales. And the comedy Juno made it into the top five with $15.7 million despite playing in just 1,014 theaters. (It posted the highest per-theater average among wide releases.) Opening in just two theaters in New York and Los Angeles, Paul Thomas Anderson's critically acclaimed There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, sold out every performance and averaged $92,000 per theater. The holiday box office overall was up 7 percent over last year.

02/01/2008