Weekend box-office: Sugar and spice and Happyness is nice

It ‘tis the season to be jolly – so Hollywood Studios release “happy” films and happy films do good box-office business because everyone wants to be…well, happy!

After a lackluster weekend last week this weekend’s take is a bit more encouraging.In the number one spot Will and Jaden Smith in Sony’s ‘The Pursuit of Happyness.’Going for his tenth $100 million blockbuster, Will, one of Hollywood’s biggest draws, plays Chris Gardner, a (real life) father who is down on his luck, becomes homeless and moonlights during the day in a stock broker training program hoping for a new lease on life.Not the sugar and spice “happy” theme one would expect at this time of year but an uplifting drama nonetheless. Especially attractive is the on-screen relationship between Will and his son Jaden.“Happyness” took in $27 million from 2,852 locations this past weekend.Despite negative feedback (see the M&C Eragon Review and its Talkback section), the Fox fantasy pic, based on the novel by Christopher Paolini pulled in a respectable $23.5 million this past weekend from 3,020 locations.However, expect big drop-off from Eragon and his dragon Saphira this week as negative word of mouth steers this young demographic to other openings like ‘Night at the Museum.’In a disappointing third place is Paramount’s ‘Charlotte’s Web.’ Starring the cute Dakota Fanning and pig Wilbur and the voice of Julia Roberts as the spidery Charlotte, this big screen adaptation of the beloved E.B. White novel only pulled in $12 million from 3,566 locations – the biggest release of all the opening films this past weekend.In fourth place and still dancing is Warner Bros.’ ‘Happy Feet.’ Now in its fifth release week, the penguin pic pulled in $8.5 million from 3,335 locations bringing its total take to $149.4 million.And in fifth place, was the chick flick ‘The Holiday.’ The Cameron Diaz-Kate Winslet starrer took in $8.2 million from 2,614 locations for a two week total of $25.3 million.Of note, Mel Gibson’s ‘Apocalypto’ dropped 48.5 percent from its opening week at number 1 to land it in sixth place taking in $7.72 million from 2,465 locations for a total two week draw of $27.9 million.All the Christmas movies now in release, ‘The Nativity Story,’ ‘Deck the Halls,’ ‘The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause,’ came in at the bottom of the pack in 9th, 12th and 13th places respectfully.But compared with last year, the total of the top three at the box-office this past weekend was just under Peter Jackson’s 'King Kong' which grossed $50.1 million in its opening weekend and $66.2 million in its first five day frame.

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RoyDec 18th, 2006 - 02:03:14

I expected Eragon to gross more than that. Before the reviews came in i was expecting it would be a $30m - $50m weekend.

The film was pretty good in my opinion, and no I havn't read the book. I saw the obvious parrallels with Star Wars but other than that it was a solid, entertaining fantasy movie.

Roy

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Weekend box-office: Sugar and spice and Happyness is nice

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Cameron Diaz - View Cameron Diaz Pictures - Cameron Diaz News

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Julia Roberts - View Julia Roberts Pictures - Julia Roberts News

Will Smith - View Will Smith Pictures - Will Smith News

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