|
Keanu Reeves sci-fi movie tops North America box office
2008-12-15
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Science fiction thriller "The Day the Earth Stood Still" took top spot at the North American box office on its debut weekend, final figures showed Monday. The Fox re-make of a 1951 cult classic stars Keanu Reeves as an alien that comes to earth. The movie took in 30.5 million dollars over the weekend, the ticket sales tracking company Exhibitor Relations reported. Second was the comedy "Four Christmases," starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn who play a couple struggling to visit all four of their divorced parents on Christmas. The Warner Bros. movie raked in 13 million dollars, for a haul of 88 million since it opened three weeks ago, Exhibitor Relations said. Teen vampire movie "Twilight" made its way to third place, pulling in eight million dollars, pushing its total earnings to 150 million dollars since it opened four weeks ago. Fourth was Disney's animated hit "Bolt," featuring the voices of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus, which earned another 7.5 million dollars to take its total receipts to 89 million. "Australia," the epic period romance featuring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, was fifth with 4.2 million dollars, bringing its total box office sales to just under 38 million dollars since it opened three weeks ago. The James Bond thriller "Quantum of Solace" finished sixth, earning 3.7 million dollars and 157.6 million dollars since it opened last month. In its opening weekend and debuting in seventh place was "Nothing like the Holidays," a holiday comedy with a cast that includes Debra Messing and John Leguizamo, which pulled in 3.5 million. Next was "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," which amassed 3.2 million dollars and has earned 170 million dollars in ticket sales for Paramount since the animated feature made its debut six weeks ago. In ninth place was "Milk," the drama about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California who was shot dead in 1978 along with the San Francisco city mayor. The film, starring Sean Penn, is regarded as one of the early contenders for the Oscars and took 2.6 million dollars. Rounding off the list at number 10 was the third installment of Lionsgate's action-adventure franchise "Transporter 3," starring Jason Statham. The movie pulled in 2.35 million dollars in its third week on the big screen, for a haul of 29.4 million dollars.
| 
