It's January, so nobody is really in the mood for deeply taxing movies about the plight of transexual herring farmers in the Ukraine. Which would explain why the hugely silly National Treasure 2 is still at the top of the US box office for a third week. The Nic Cage sequel took a highly impressive $20.2 million, bringing its total to $171 million in three weeks. That's an enormous haul and surely enough to get National Treasure 3: The Toupee of Illusion greenlit.
Sitting at number 2 is I Am Legend, which grabbed a further $16.3 million, to put it at an enormous $228 million in four weeks. But the big story of the weekend was at number three. Just behind I Am Legend was the quite stupendously good Juno, which you should see AT THE EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY. The little indie comedy about a sassy pregnant teen took $16.2 million on 1,925 screens, giving it a screen average of $8,428, by far the biggest of the top three. That means it's going to easily pass the $59.9 million taken by Little Miss Sunshine, the film it's most often compared to in terms of breakthrough indie success. Some estimates are saying it could surpass $150 million.
Alvin and the Chipmunks continued to rake in the kid dollars at four, taking $16 million on the nose, to put its total to $176.7 million. In at five was the week's only new top ten entry in the shape of horror One Missed Call, which took a solid $13.5 million.
Of the Oscary movies currently on release, Atonement successfully upped its screen numbers and added an extra $5.1 million on 583 screens. There Will Be Blood increased to 51 screens and $26,215 on average, far and away the highest of the weekend. The Kite Runner dropped a little to $1.8 million, despite expanding its number of screens by 3.