With his lucky bottle of gypsy tears obviously still working a charm, Borat has bested all comers for a second week at the top of the American box office. With the film expanding in to more than 2,500 cinemas across the States, we expected it would do well – and it has, nabbing $29 million according to studio estimates. The film currently has $67.8 million in its coffers, and that’s just the US total alone.
In an unusual week, the top three releases stayed exactly the same – with The Santa Clause 3 and Flushed Away both holding on to a healthy chunk of their audiences.
The reason for the unchanged leads is this week’s new movies – both distinct underperformers. The highest new entry was Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson’s Stranger Than Fiction, which has had to battle through a hard sell, brain-scratching concept and the fact that it’s not a knockabout Ferrell comedy. It took $14 million at fourth.
Fifth place went to Saw III, which dropped one place and now has $69.89 million to its name. Arriving in the charts at sixth – though not a new release, since it’s been out for three weeks – is Babel, with the critically adored Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett starrer expanding into more than 1,000 cinemas and taking in $5.6 million for the week.
At seventh we find that champion of healthy, long-running performance, The Departed. Martin Scorsese’s latest is now officially his top earner in the States. With $5.2 million for the weekend (despite being out on screens for six weeks now), it was enough to smack Sarah Michelle Gellar’s new horror The Return into eighth. Sadly for the actress formerly known as Buffy, her latest had the whiff of a dumped film about it, with little advertising and a lacklustre launch of $4.7 million.
Ninth place went to The Prestige, which has now made for than $46 million in the States. And the top 10 is this week rounded out by a film that everyone expected to be a little higher in the charts – Ridley Scott’s new film, A Good Year. The genial Russell Crowe memoir comedy has flopped, arriving with just $3.7 million. Whoops. Everyone hide the phones near Russell.
What’s up, vanilla face! Pleased to be starings at The Charts!
1
**Borat
** $29,000,000
$67,840,000
2
2
**The Santa Clause 3
** $16,893,000
$41,052,000
2
3
**Flushed Away
**
$16,710,000
$39,391,000
2
4
**Stranger Than Fiction
**
$14,100,000
$14,100,000
1
5
**Saw III **
$6,600,000
$69,879,000
3
6
**Babel
**
$5,651,000
$7,488,000
3 7
**The Departed
**
$5,240,000
$109,778,000
6
8
**The Return
**
$4,776,000
$4,776,000
1
9
The Prestige
$4,630,000
$46,037,000
4
10
**A Good Year
**
$3,775,000
$3,775,000
1