Lighthearted Fare Remains Strong at U.S. Box Office
Old-fashioned entertainment once again emerged as the strong preference of American moviegoers as National Treasure: Book of Secrets and Alvin and the Chipmunks again dominated the U.S. box office this past weekend.
The two fluffy and cheerfully entertaining movies again finished 1-2 in weekend movie ticket sales for the second weekend in a row.
National Treasure: Book of Secrets brought in a healthy $35.6 million, bringing its two-week total to $124 million. Alvin and the Chipmunks snapped up another $30 million, upping its total to $142.4 million.
Will Smith's I Am Legend, a more serious but still entertaining film carried by the actor's star power, finished a strong third with $27.5 million according to studio estimates.
The star-studded, puckish Charlie Wilson's War came in fourth, with $11.8 million, and the charming independently produced comedy Juno finished a strong fifth with $10.3 million.
Also showing well was Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, which finished 7th. Sweeney Todd just stayed in the top ten, in ninth place, and Disney's comic fantasy Enchanted is still drawing decent audiences, finishing tenth.
The Great Debaters, directed by Denzel Washington and featuring Washington and Forrest Whitaker in a story about an underdog African-American college debate team in the 1930s U.S. South, failed to crack the top ten in its first weekend of release, finishing eleventh.
