Audiences continue to discover ‘Treasure’

“National Treasure: Book of Secrets” ranked No. 1 at the box office for the third straight weekend -- but the real question in Hollywood on Sunday was which movie finished second.

Walt Disney Co.’s action sequel starring Nicolas Cage took in $20.2 million in the U.S. and Canada, while the science-fiction thriller “I Am Legend,” starring Will Smith, was second with $16.4 million -- based on the box-office estimate from its distributor, Warner Bros.

But there were two other close contenders. Pending today’s final figures, “Legend” ranked only slightly ahead of Fox Searchlight’s droll breakout success “Juno” at $16.2 million and 20th Century Fox’s family film “Alvin and the Chipmunks” at $16 million.

Privately, executives at three rival studios projected “Legend” at $16 million -- or $400,000 less than Warner’s estimate. Essentially, the three hits were in a photo finish for the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 spots on the weekend charts, but Warner got bragging rights.

“I hear there were optimistic people in Burbank,” scoffed Peter Rice, president of News Corp.’s Fox Searchlight. “We’re also No. 2.”

Warner executives took offense at the suggestion that their estimates were aggressive and stood by their figures.

“I don’t report their numbers, and they don’t need to report mine,” said Dan Fellman, the studio’s president of domestic distribution. “I resent somebody else counting my dollars.”

Regardless of this weekend’s ultimate rankings, Rice said, “Juno” was well on its way to becoming the biggest success yet for the specialty distributor, established in 1994.

The comedy, starring Ellen Page as a pregnant teenager and Michael Cera as her pal, was produced for $7.5 million and has banked $52 million through five weekends of its rollout. It could soon pass the wine-snob satire “Sideways,” which grossed $72 million in 2004.

The dispute over Sunday’s numbers highlights the fact that weekend box-office figures are inexact. Unlike television ratings, the movie business relies on an honor system rather than third-party referees.

Studios estimate weekend box-office revenues for their movies after tallying the actual theatrical receipts on Friday and Saturday from services such as Rentrak Corp., then adding their projections for Sunday ticket sales based on the two-day results and historical trends.

On Sunday mornings, studios provide their estimates to box-office data firms such as Media by Numbers and Nielsen EDI that distribute them to news outlets. The weekend rankings often change Mondays, at least modestly, when the final results are tabulated.

Although the runner-up status was in dispute, there was no question that the weekend’s only major new release, Warner’s PG-13 horror film “One Missed Call,” opened strongly at No. 5.

That movie, produced by Alcon Entertainment, grossed an estimated $13.5 million -- about double what analysts had expected based on pre-release tracking surveys.

Starring Shannyn Sossamon and Edward Burns, the remake of a Japanese horror flick was produced for about $20 million.

It skewed young and female, which is typical for the horror genre. The audience was 55% female and 63% younger than 25. Horror and suspense films often attract groups of teenage girls who enjoy the shared thrills, Hollywood executives say.

“One Missed Call” is on track to gross more than $30 million domestically and is likely to be profitable for Alcon, founded by FedEx Corp. Chairman Fred Smith, as well as its distribution partner, Warner.

Meanwhile, Alcon’s romance “P.S. I Love You,” produced for about $30 million, continued to hold up well in the marketplace. Starring Hilary Swank, the movie grossed $8 million to rank No. 7, raising its total to about $39 million through three weekends.

“I Am Legend” is almost certain to end up being the biggest global hit of Hollywood’s holiday season. It added $34 million abroad, bringing its worldwide total to $399 million through four weekends.

In the U.S. and Canada, “Legend” is on pace to end up slightly above $250 million, compared with a little more than $200 million for both “Treasure” and “Alvin.”

Industrywide, business was up for the fourth straight weekend. Domestic box-office revenue climbed 6% from the first weekend in 2007, Media by Numbers estimated.

josh.friedman@latimes.com

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Box-office results

“National Treasure: Book of Secrets” topped the box office for the third straight weekend. Three hits were in a virtual tie for second place, while the horror film “One Missed Call” finished fifth after beating industry expectations. The period romance “Atonement,” one of this year’s main Oscar contenders, cracked the top 10 after expanding in its fifth weekend. Outside the top 10, another awards contender, “There Will Be Blood,” averaged $26,000 at 51 theaters, the weekend’s highest per-theater average, while “The Bucket List,” a comedy-drama starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, averaged a respectable $20,000 at 16 theaters. “Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem” tumbled 58% in its second weekend to fall out of the top 10. Preliminary results (in millions) in the U.S. and Canada, based on studio projections:

*--* -- Movie 3-day gross Total -- -- (studio) (millions) (millions) Weeks

1 National Treasure: Book of $20.2 $171.0 3 Secrets (Disney)

2 I Am Legend (Warner Bros.) 16.4 228.7 4

3 Juno (Fox Searchlight) 16.2 52.0 5

4 Alvin and the Chipmunks (20th 16.0 176.7 4 Century Fox)

5 One Missed Call (Warner Bros.) 13.5 13.5 1

6 Charlie Wilson’s War (Universal) 8.2 52.6 3

7 P.S. I Love You (Warner Bros.) 8.0 39.4 3

8 The Water Horse (Sony) 6.3 30.9 3

9 Sweeney Todd 5.4 38.5 3 (DreamWorks/Paramount)

10 Atonement (Focus) 5.1 19.2 5 *--*

Industry totals

*--* 3-day gross Change Year-to-date gross Change (in millions) from 2007 (in billions) from 2007 $140.0 +5.8% $0.19 +14.3% *--*

Note: A movie may be shown on more than one screen at each venue.

Source: Media by Numbers