Having Will Smith, one of the world's most bankable stars, as its leading actor proved to be good omen as the Warner Bros' movie managed to gain an amazing 76.5 million dollars on its opening weekend.
- Dec 17, 2007
AceShowbiz - Wasn't expected to make an impressive income, "I Am Legend" proved otherwise as it scored big in the weekend box office ended Sunday, December 16. The action horror movie grossed about 77.2 million dollars in the three days following its premiere on Friday, December 14, making it the best December opening of all time beating the previous record holder, the 2003's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King".
The success of Francis Lawrence's movie to nail the desired position also becomes the prove that its leading actor, Will Smith, is indeed one of the world's most bankable stars. Last year, Smith's "The Pursuit of Happyness" debuted on number 1 pulling in staggering income of 26.5 million dollars. His other projects, such as "I, Robot" and "Men in Black II", also collected an amazing income of about 52.2 million dollars on their opening weekend only.
Following "I Am Legend", the CGI animated comedy film, "Alvin and the Chipmunks", managed to hit the second spot. The movie starring Jason Lee and produced by the 20th Century Fox exceeded all expectations by earning an amazing 44.3 million dollars. Further, regarding the success of the two new movies, Chris Aronson, the Fox senior Vice President of distribution commented, "It was the perfect storm of two pictures coming into the marketplace that everyone wanted to see."
Meanwhile, the previous box office champion, "The Golden Compass" was thrown to the third position as the sales dropped 65 per cent from its opening gross. It merely brought in 8.8 million dollars this weekend. Additionally, Disney's "Enchanted" fell to the fourth place profited 5.5 million dollars. It was followed by "No Country for Old Men" in the fifth position adding another 2.8 million dollars on its profit. In the sixth place, another new release film, "The Perfect Holiday" starring Gabrielle Union, Terrence Howard, and Queen Latifah closed their weekend income with 2.2 million dollars.
The seventh and eighth place went to "This Christmas" and "Fred Claus" respectively which manage to pull in a modest income for about 2.26 million and 2.22 million dollars. Coming in the ninth spot is Keira Knightley's "Atonement", garnering 1.8 million dollars, while rounding up the top ten box office, "August Rush" secured the tenth spot by making 1.76 million dollars.
