You’ve Got B.O. National Treasure Takes The Pre-Xmas

Cheese-fest sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets (or as I like to call it, 2 National 2 Treasure) has won the pre-Christmas box office with a $45.5 million dollar haul, and last week’s double-shot of I Am Legend and Alvin and the Chipmunks kept up their end by placing second and third. The big-buzz Oscar picks didn’t make as big a splash, with Charlie Wilson’s War coming in at a distant fourth with nearly $20 million less than Alvin, but these are long-run movies, so they shouldn’t be that worried. The good movies require weeks of blather to get people to go see them, whereas National Treasure commands popular attention. For some reason. Seriously, why would anyone let George W. Bush read a book of secrets?

A bit more distressing is the low debut of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, a smart riff on Walk the Line and every other musical biopic ever made. John C. Reilly deserves better than an eighth-place finish. But this is another one that could be saved by word-of-mouth. If nothing else, it’ll surely be a cult flick.

1. National Treasure: Book of Secrets - $45.5 million
2. I Am Legend - $34.2 million
3. Alvin and the Chipmunks - $29 million
4. Charlie Wilson’s War - $9.6 million
5. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - $9.3 million
6. P.S. I Love You - $6.5 million
7. Enchanted - $4.15 million
8. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story - $4.1 million
9. The Golden Compass - $3.9 million
10. Juno - $3.4 million