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Cage's "Treasure" Chest Filling Up
National Treasure keeps ka-chinging along.
Facing no new wide releases, Nicolas Cage's action-adventure earned an estimated $17 million Friday through Sunday, according to final studio figures, bringing its three-week haul to $110.1 million and becoming the 18th movie this year to gross more than $100 million.
The only new entry in the top 10 was the limited circulation Closer. The spouse-swapping drama, featuring the star quartet of Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Julie Roberts and Clive Owen under the direction of Mike Nichols, bedded down in fifth place with $7.7 million at just 476 theaters. That brought the R-rated Sony release a titillating $16,193 per screen.
Although critics tried in vain to bury National Treasure, the PG-rated Disney flick remained at 3,243 sites, where it averaged $5,244, only dropping 47 percent from the previous weekend.
Also remaining shy of the 50 percent drop--a key indicator of whether a film has legs--were Sony's PG-rated Yule comedy Christmas with the Kranks (down 48 percent in its second week) with $11.2 million in second place, and Warners' G-rated The Polar Express (down 44 percent in its fourth week) with $10.8 million in third place. The latter film has shown staying power despite its less than auspicious debut.
In fourth place was one of the year's genuine hits, both critically and commercially: The Incredibles. The PG-rated Disney-Pixar release did slip 62 percent, but that comes after five big weeks and the loss of 275 theaters. Playing at 3,178 locations, the high-powered 'toon, starring the voices of Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter as the middle-aged superheroic couple, averaged $2,837 for another $9 million, bringing its gross to $225.9 million.
Meanwhile, Oliver Stone's far from great Alexander continued its disastrous run. The expensive R-rated Warners epic, starring Colin Farrell as the blond marauder, dropped 65 percent in week two, earning just $4.8 million from a $1,945 average at 2,445 sites for a total of just $29.7 million.
In very limited release, House of Flying Daggers, starring Zhang Ziyi as a blind martial arts master, hit the target. At just 15 sites the PG-13 Sony Pictures Classic import averaged $26,498 to total $397,472.
Less successful on the art-house circuit was I Am David, Lions Gate's PG-rated drama starring Ben Tibber as a boy escaping a Bulgarian labor camp in the 1950s. The film opened at 226 locations, where it averaged just $709 for $160,346.
As holiday shopping gained momentum and football crowded the television channels, audiences thinned at the megaplex turnstiles. The top 12 films grossed a total $79 million, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations, down a whopping 48 percent from the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and, more significantly, a decline of 12 percent than this time last year, when the wide opening of The Last Samurai stirred up more coin.
Here's a rundown of the top 10, based on final studio figures released Monday:
1. National Treasure, $17 million
2. Christmas with the Kranks, $11.2 million
3. The Polar Express, $10.8 million
4. The Incredibles, $9 million
5. Closer, $7.71 million
6. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, $7.66 million
7. Alexander, $4.8 million
8. Finding Neverland, $2.82 million
9. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, $2.76 million
10. Ray, $1.9 million
(Originally published Dec. 5, 2004 at 12:05 p.m. PT.)
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