Cage’s ‘National Treasure: Book Of Secrets’ Another Big Hit Sequel

There was treasure at the box office over the weekend, and its name was Nicolas Cage.

The Hollywood lead followed his National Treasure franchise name to a big sequel debut, and ” National Treasure: Book of Secrets” took home $45.5 million to lead the pre-Christmas pack.

With Cage reprising his role as a history buff on the hunt for a vanished fortune, the “National Treasure” sequel outdid the original, which debuted with $35.1 million on its way to a $173 million total. The p revious weekend’s top flick, ” I Am Legend,” dropped to second place with $34.2 million.

With the market packed with new releases, the “Treasure” opening was even more impressive, easily outdoing Universal’s foreign-policy satire ” Charlie Wilson’s War,” which features big names like Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Still, the three Golden Globe nominees could do no better than No. 4 with $9.6 million.

Playing in roughly half as many as theatres, ” Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” did almost as much business, coming in at No. 5 with $9.35 million.

Warner Bros. produced a major romantic dud in ” P.S. I Love You,” which had a lukewarm No. 6 opening at $6.5 million. The movie stars Hilary Swank as a widow whose husband arranged to send letters after his death to inspire her to go on living.

The latest from the Judd Apatow comedy machine, Sony’s ” Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” was a surprise bomb, taking in just $4.1 million despite good reviews praising its no-holds-barred humour.

And yet after a sluggish fall, Hollywood business still soared for the second-straight weekend. The top 12 movies took in $153.5 million, up 41 per cent from the same weekend last year, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

“The variety of films is really bringing out the audience,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. “People are looking for all different types of movies, and everything is represented here.”

Here’s the rest of the weekend’s top 10, with all figures estimated according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final

1. “National Treasure: Book of Secrets,” $45.5 million.
2. “I Am Legend,” $34.2 million.
3. “ Alvin and the Chipmunks,” $29 million.
4. “Charlie Wilson’s War,” $9.6 million.
5. “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” $9.35 million.
6. “P.S. I Love You,” $6.5 million.
7. “Enchanted,” $4.15 million.
8. “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” $4.1 million.
9. “The Golden Compass,” $4 million.
10. “Juno,” $3.4 million.

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