December 5, 200421 yr Cage Film Tops Box Office for 3rd Weekend Sunday December 5 1:54 PM ET Nicolas Cage logged a third weekend atop the North American box office on Sunday with his action-adventure "National Treasure," but overall ticket sales slid as movies competed for attention with shopping in the post-Thanksgiving holiday period. One of the hardest-hit films was director Oliver Stone's "Alexander," which earned an estimated $4.7 million in the three days beginning Friday, losing about two-thirds of its opening-weekend tally as it dropped one place to No. 7. The $150 million swords-and-sandals epic, starring Colin Farrell as the youthful Macedonian warrior, has pulled in $29.7 million after 12 days, and should finish with about $40 million, said a spokesman for Warner Bros. Pictures. The studio paid $35 million for North American rights from producer Intermedia Films, a unit of Munich-based IM Internationalmedia AG . Intermedia has said it expects the film to do much better internationally, just as "Troy" did recently. "National Treasure" dug up an estimated $17.1 million, taking its total to $110.3 million. The Walt Disney Co. picture is on track to surpass 1996's "The Rock" ($134 million) as Cage's biggest movie. The only new entry in the top 10 was director Mike Nichols' potty-mouthed adultery drama "Closer," which opened at No. 6 with $7.7 million, a hefty number for a limited release. Columbia Pictures' London-set drama, an adaptation of a play by British playwright Patrick Marber, stars Julia Roberts as a photographer who beds both Jude Law's journalist character and Clive Owen's dermatologist. Natalie Portman plays a stripper who also gets sack time with both men. While all the movies in the top five played in more than 3,100 theaters each, "Closer" was launched in just 476 to "give it some time to mature," said Rory Bruer, president of domestic theatrical distribution at the Sony Corp . -owned studio. "It's daring, it's provocative, people are going to talk about it." The studio will add 150 runs next weekend, and hopes the film's momentum will be boosted as critics' groups start naming their top picks of the year. TICKET SALES SLIDE According to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, the top 12 films earned $80 million, down 47 percent from last weekend, and off 10 percent from the year-ago period, when Tom Cruise 's "The Last Samurai" opened at No. 1 with $24.3 million. Columbia's holiday comedy "Christmas with the Kranks," starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis , rose one place to No. 2 with $11.7 million. After two weekends, the film has earned $45.5 million. The costly computer-animated children's fable "The Polar Express," which started off slowly three weeks ago, is still chugging along, rising one to No. 3 with $11.0 million. The total for Warner Bros.' $170 million-budgeted production rose to $96.4 million. The Time Warner Inc. -owned studio partnered on the project with real-estate heir Steve Bing. A Warners spokesman predicted the Tom Hanks film would at least hit $130 million. He noted that it was No. 2 to "National Treasure" during the week, while its 43 percent drop from last weekend was the smallest among the wide releases in the top 10. The superhero cartoon "The Incredibles" fell two places to No. 4 with $9.2 million in its fifth weekend, taking its total to $226 million. The Disney-distributed film was produced by Pixar Animation Studios Inc . Yet another cartoon, "The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie," held steady at No. 5 with $7.8 million in its third weekend. The total for the cable TV adaptation rose to $68.4 million. It was released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc .
December 5, 200421 yr Author Everything else sucks. 627495[/snapback] :o What happened to your man love for Spongbob.
December 6, 200421 yr National Treasure was a gay movie. I cant get by Cage as a braniac. Just doesnt work.
December 6, 200421 yr I found National Treasure to be entertaining. Nothing ground breaking but I was never bored.
December 6, 200421 yr Everything else sucks. True. It will be way down at #4 next week after Blade and Ocean's 12 are done destroying it. Why neither of those movies could've been released at Thanksgiving is beyond me. "Bad Santa" is the only movie released in the past couple of Thanksgivings that was worth anything. National Treasure was nothing groundbreaking, but it wasn't bad, either. It's a decent action flick with an interesting twist on the Illuminati.
December 6, 200421 yr I can't wait for Blade Trilogy. I haven't been this pumped for a movie in some time.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.