Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman can still bring it.
The septuagenarians' The Bucket List blocked Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan's First Sunday from the top spot at the weekend box office, per final studio figures compiled Monday by Exhibitor Relations.
The Nicholson-Freeman vehicle grossed $19.4 million, easlily surpassing the $17.7 million taken in by the Cube-Morgan team-up.
The Bucket List, a not especially critically acclaimed comedy-drama about two terminally ill men on a mission make the most of their end days, enjoyed two strong weekends in limited release before breaking wide, and breaking big, this weekend. It is director Rob Reiner's biggest hit, and his first nonbomb, since President Clinton's first administration and The American President.
Even more impressive: A quick check of the stats at Box Office Mojo reveals that The Bucket List is the first movie with stars of a certain age—both Nicholson and Freeman are 70—to top the weekend box office since Driving Miss Daisy, starring 80-year-old Jessica Tandy (and costarring Freeman, then a youngster of 52), schooled Tango & Cash and more back in January 1990.
First Sunday offers no such inspiration to AARP members. The caper comedy merely goes down as just another solid Ice Cube performer. It opened slightly smaller than the Barbershop movies; it opened bigger than the Are We There Yet? and Friday movies.
Elsewhere, Juno (third place, $13.6million; $70.9 million overall) continued to make like Little Miss Sunshine, making the most of its little budget.
Nicolas Cage's National Treasure: Book of Secrets fell to fourth from first but banked another $11.3 million ($187.1 million overall).
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything didn't do anything, opening in ninth, scrounging up $4.3 million, and reminding that pirates, outside of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, are box-office pariahs. The first VeggieTales feature-length cartoon, 2002's Jonah, an oceanic tale that wasn't pirate-focused, debuted with $6.2 million.
Atonement (10th place, $4.2 million; $25.1 million) went into Sunday with the most Golden Globe nominations, but Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, also a top Globes contender, came out of Sunday with the best, on average, weekend of any movie, grossing $1.9 million at 78 theaters. Through its first three weekends, the oil epic has tapped into $4.3 million overall.
Charlie Wilson's War ($4.1 million; $59.4 million overall) dropped out of the top 10 after a so-so run, while Sweeney Todd ($3.4 million; $44.1 million) dropped out after a so-blah run.
Drilling down further: No Country for Old Men ($1.2 million) neared $47 million overall, becoming the Coen brothers' top-grossing movie ever; and Tom Cruise's Lions for Lambs, struggling to hit the $15 million mark, got all of $526 closer.
Debuting at one theater, The Business of Being Born, the Rikki Lake-birthed documentary about medicine and maternity wards, grossed a strong $9,574.
Here's a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
1. The Bucket List, $19.4 million
2. First Sunday, $17.7 million
3. Juno, $13.6 million
4. National Treasure: Book of Secrets, $11.3 million
5. Alvin and the Chipmunks, $9.3 million
6. I Am Legend, $8.2 million
7. One Missed Call, $6 million
8. P.S. I Love You, $4.8 million
9. The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, $4.3 million
10. Atonement, $4.2 million
(Originally published Jan. 13, 2008 at 1:29 p.m. PT.)