Happy Feet Dances On, Nativity Stalls
Some birthday present.
Despite its seasonal-appropriate theme, The Nativity Story proved nowhere near the draw as that other Jesus movie by that Mel guy, opening in fourth place over the weekend behind the same top three films as last week.
The prancing-penguins musical 'toon Happy Feet remained the major attraction for a third straight week, earning another $17.5 million, while for the third straight week, the 007 spy adventure Casino Royale was close behind, shaking and stirring up $15.1 million, per studio estimates Sunday.
Befitting its title, Deja Vu wound up in third for a second consecutive week, with the Denzel Washington time-bending thriller clocking in $10.9 million.
That brings us to The Nativity Story, an earnest depiction of the Biblical journey of Mary (Keisha Castle-Hughes), Joseph and the donkey to Bethlehem, so that the baby Jesus could be born in a manger, visited by Wise Men and shepherds and launch the busiest shopping season of the year. While Jesus got gold, frankincense and myrrh, his movie studio could have used some cash. The PG-rated New Line release managed just $7.8 million, which the distributor blamed on bad weather in the Midwest.
"The storms in the middle of the country couldn't have hurt us more," David Tuckerman, New Line's distribution chief, told the Associated Press. "It's a movie made for the heartland, and it killed us in the heartland."
Also faring badly, weather or not, was Turistas, the debut release from 20th Century Fox's new Fox Atomic boutique arm. The R-rated horrorfest scared up a mere $3.6 million for an eighth-place debut.
And just managing to make the Top 10 was National Lampoon's Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj. MGM's R-rated comedy sequel, which takes the Indian grad Taj (Kal Penn) to England, matriculated in with just $2.3 million.
Happy Feet and Casino Royale jockeyed for the best per-screen average, with the penguins averaging $4,612 at 3,804 theaters, while Bond tallied $4,463 per 3,386 sites.
Of the new films, The Nativity Story averaged $2,466 at 3,083 locations; Turistas averaged $2,281 at 1,570 sites; and Van Wilder 2 averaged $1,168 at 1,979 sites.
In very limited release, ThinkFilm's R-rated 10 Items or Less—a riff on an encounter between an actor and checkout cashier, starring and executive produced by Morgan Freeman, costarring Spanish actress Paz Vega and directed by Brad Siberling—averaged a mildly curious $2,395 at 15 sites for $35,929. The movie will be available for download in a couple of weeks.
The top 10 films combined grossed $77 million, up 6 percent over this time last year (when Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, led the top-10 list for a third straight week), though predictably down big (45 percent) from last weekend, when the Thanksgiving crowds flocked to theaters.
Here's a recap of the top-grossing weekend films, based on final studio figures compiled by box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations:
1. Happy Feet, $17.5 million
2. Casino Royale, $15.1 million
3. Déjà Vu, $10.9 million
4. The Nativity Story, $7.8 million
5. Deck the Halls, $6.7 million
6. The Santa Clause 3, $4.9 million
7. Borat, $4.7 million
8. Turistas, $3.6 million
9. Stranger Than Fiction, $3.4 million
10. Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj, $2.3 million
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