'National Treasure' sequel finds gold

By Josh Friedman

Dec. 24, 2007 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Nicolas Cage, Will Smith and a trio of computer-generated chipmunks are helping Hollywood end the year on a high note.

Cage’s “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” took in about $45.5 million to lead the industry to its second straight bang-up weekend on the eve of the potentially lucrative Christmas through New Year’s span, studio Walt Disney Co. said Sunday.

The big-budget, PG-rated sequel to the 2004 hit “National Treasure” drew “men and women, young and old -- plus kids,” said Mark Zoradi, president of Disney’s motion picture group. “Usually you hear about ‘four quadrant’ movies but this one got five quadrants,” he said, referring to an only-in-Hollywood mathematical possibility.

Last weekend’s two surprisingly strong openers, Smith’s science-fiction thriller “I Am Legend” and the family-friendly musical comedy “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” placed second and third with $34.2 million and $29 million, respectively, at U.S. and Canadian box offices.

Industrywide ticket sales soared 36% from the same weekend in 2006, according to research firm Media by Numbers. Receipts were up for the second straight time after a five-weekend stretch of declines.

Four other major movies opened to mixed results.

Star power propelled two films to solid openings in the $9-million to $10-million range.

The political romp “Charlie Wilson’s War,” with Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman, ranked fourth. Fifth was the gory musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” with Johnny Depp. Both opened in the upper range of expectations.

But the romance “P.S. I Love You,” starring Hilary Swank, and the musical biography spoof “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” starring John C. Reilly, stumbled.

The original “National Treasure” opened to $35 million in November 2004 and showed unusual stamina, eventually grossing $173 million domestically and $347 million worldwide.

This weekend’s sequel, starring Cage as a treasure hunter probing new evidence in the Lincoln assassination, could be an even bigger blockbuster from producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

The picture got off to a strong start overseas. It opened to $22.3 million in 17 territories, mostly in Asia. With British actress Helen Mirren and locations in Paris and London, the follow-up was clearly aimed at the global marketplace.

“Treasure” could lead the box office through the end of the year, just as the Ben Stiller comedy “Night at the Museum” did a year ago.

That pre-Christmas release opened to $30 million and went on to gross $251 million domestically. Movies tend to hold up well at this time of year, thanks to school and work vacations that make consumers available.

Warner Bros.’ “I Am Legend,” last weekend’s No. 1 movie at the box office, is also racking up big bucks abroad.

Starring Smith as a plague survivor battling zombies, the film earned $25.3 million over the weekend from 15 foreign markets. Its worldwide total through 10 days reached $192 million.

“Alvin,” which 20th Century Fox says was produced for $60 million, held up well in its second weekend and will be highly profitable, especially considering its DVD potential. It dropped 35%, versus 56% for “Legend.”

The characters, created in 1958 as a novelty music act and also remembered from two animated TV shows, will surely be back in a sequel of their own.

Might the studio behind this year’s Christmas Day sequel, “Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem,” combine two franchises again and concoct “Garfield vs. the Chipmunks”?

Universal Pictures’ “Charlie Wilson,” the true tale of a playboy congressman, a socialite and a CIA agent who helped Afghan rebels defeat the Soviet empire in the 1980s, was aimed at adults and reached them.

About 80% of the audience was over age 30, and nearly half was over 50 -- a crowd that studios are increasingly wooing.

The $75-million production could end up grossing $100 million domestically if it hangs tough in the coming weeks, said Adam Fogelson, the studio’s marketing chief. The low end, he said, would be akin to last year’s drama “The Good Shepherd,” which grossed $60 million.

“Sweeney Todd,” a DreamWorks-Warner Bros. co-production that the studios say was made for a mere $50 million, skewed slightly older and female. The Broadway adaptation, directed by Tim Burton, has earned rave reviews but will be too gory for some tastes.

“Sweeney” and “Charlie” both would benefit from strong showings in the awards season. Depp and Burton are considered Oscar contenders, as is the scene-stealing Hoffman.

Seventy percent of the audience was female for “P.S. I Love You,” which grossed $6.5 million. The movie was produced for a relatively modest $40 million.

“Walk Hard” cost only about $35 million to make but Sony Pictures was disappointed in its $4.1-million opening, especially in light of the film’s enthusiastic reviews.

“We’ve got a movie that everybody thinks is really funny,” said Rory Bruer, the studio’s president of domestic distribution. “It’s tough.”

The competition at multiplexes will get only fiercer.

Along with “Aliens vs. Predator,” a sequel to 2004’s “AVP: Alien vs. Predator,” two other movies open Tuesday: “The Great Debaters,” a drama starring Denzel Washington, and “The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep,” a Loch Ness monster tale.

josh.friedman@latimes.com

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Box office results

The adventure sequel “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” opened about as expected and knocked Will Smith’s thriller “I Am Legend” from the top spot. The political romp “Charlie Wilson’s War” and the bloody musical “Sweeney Todd” also opened well but two other new films, the romance “P.S. I Love You” and the comedy “Walk Hard” were big disappointments. Rolling out to 304 theaters, the quirky comedy “Juno” cracked 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 $45.5 $45.5 1 Secrets (Disney)

2 I Am Legend (Warner Bros.) 34.2 137.5 2

3 Alvin and the Chipmunks (20th 29.0 84.9 2 Century Fox)

4 Charlie Wilson’s War (Universal) 9.6 9.6 1

5 Sweeney Todd 9.4 9.4 1 (DreamWorks/Paramount)

6 P.S. I Love You (Warner Bros.) 6.5 6.5 1

7 Enchanted (Disney) 4.2 98.4 5

8 Walk Hard (Sony) 4.1 4.1 1

9 The Golden Compass (New Line) 4.0 48.4 3

10 Juno (Fox Searchlight) 3.4 6.4 3 *--*

Industry totals