Disney's thoroughly charming and actually better-the-more-you-think-about-it movie Enchanted topped the US box office for a second weekend, taking $17 million and putting its total at an impressive $70.6 million after two weeks. That should leap over the Christmas holidays with not much of quality to challenge its crown. The less entertaining Golden Compass should take some of its audience next week, however.
This was otherwise a pretty dismal week at the US box office. The highest new entry was Awake, a drama which stars Hayden Christensen as a man who remains lucid during an operation and Jessica Alba as his girlfriend. The movie was almost DOA with just $6 million on 2,000 screens.
Most of the top ten experienced drops of around 50%. Fred Claus is stumbling despite its festive relevance and dropped to number five with $5.5 million. It'll probably struggle to hit $100 million, given its current total of $59.8 million after four weeks. The appallingly received Hitman also stumbled in its second week, taking $5.8 million and just $30.2 million after two weeks. No Country For Old Men is enjoying solid business, creeping into the top ten with $4.5 million.
There were only a couple Oscar season limited openings this week. The Savages, which stars Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as siblings coping with their father's alzheimers, opened on four screens and took just over $38,000 per screen. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly opened on three screens and took an average of $25,100.