Box Office: Sci-fi remake 'Day' stills competition

By Franck Tabouring
Weekend of December 12 -14, 2008

Twentieth Century Fox’s “The Day the Earth Stood Still” destroyed its competition at the North American box office with $31 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Scott Derrickson’s remake of the 1951 sci-fi thriller directed by Robert Wise opened at 3,560 locations this weekend, landing at the No. 1 spot early Friday. The film stars Keanu Reeves as an alien travelling to Earth to warn humanity of an imminent destruction.

Last week’s box office champion “Four Christmases” dropped to second place, earning $13.2 million for a domestic total of $87.9 million after a strong three-week run. Starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn, the holiday comedy follows a couple paying a visit to their four divorced parents.

At No. 3, Catherine Hardwicke’s vampire romance “Twilight” picked up another $8 million, lifting its cumulative gross to an impressive $150.1 million. The film based on the Stephenie Meyer novel of the same title tells of a teenage girl (Kristen Stewart) who falls in love with a friendly vampire (Robert Pattinson).

Meanwhile, Disney’s animated hit flick “Bolt” took home $7.5 million in fourth place. Its current total haul stands at $88.8 million after only four weeks in release. Following at No. 5 was Baz Luhrmann’s adventure “Australia,” which pulled $4.2 million to reach a domestic total of $37.8 million.

Slipping to No. 6, Marc Forster’s “Quantum of Solace” brought its cumulative gross to $157.6 million after this weekend’s earnings of $3.8 million. New entry “Nothing Like the Holidays,” which debuted at only 1,671 locations, followed in seventh place with $3.5 million.

At the bottom of the top 10 this weekend, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” collected $3.2 million for a total of $170 million, while Gus Van Sant’s acclaimed drama “Milk” took in $2.6 million at No. 9.

Rounding out the top 10 was Olivier Megaton’s sequel “Transporter 3,” which finished with $2.2 million ($29.2 million total gross).

Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)