Narnia puts spell on the box office

Anna Popplewell and William Moseley in The lion, the witch and the wardrobe. Picture / Reuters

Here and throughout the world, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe topped the box office for its opening.

The movie - adapted by New Zealand director Andrew Adamson from the C. S. Lewis story of enchantment, epic battles and talking animals - debuted as the weekend's top film in the United States with takings of $US67 million ($NZ95 million).

In New Zealand it opened on 107 cinema screens throughout the country with takings of $1.5 million.

Although it did not match the latest Harry Potter film, Goblet of Fire, which took $2 million in its first week when it opened last month, the Chronicles of Narnia figure is based on a three-day weekend because of a Friday opening, rather than four days for films which open on the traditional Thursday. The films in the The Lord of the Rings trilogy opened with figures between the $2.1 million and $2.6 million marks.

With those figures in mind, Bill Hood, from the Motion Picture Distributors Association, said it was a "good heavy opening" for Chronicles of Narnia. "But if they had four days they would have been up there and it will be a great family movie for Christmas," Hood said.

"It proves how good movie-making can get now and of course we have the big one, King Kong, coming up this week," Hood said.

Robert Crockett, managing director of the film's New Zealand distributor, Buena Vista International, said all New Zealanders could feel proud of the Chronicles of Narnia movie.

"The weekend's box office result is a reflection of New Zealand's pride in the film and passion for the timeless tale by C. S. Lewis." At the US box office, Chronicles of Narnia compares reasonably well alongside the three The Lord of the Rings films which had debuts of $US47.2 million, $US62 million and $US72.6 million.

It is slightly down on the first three Harry Potter flicks, which opened in the $US90 million range, with the Goblet of Fire taking $US102 million in its first week.

Although Peter Jackson's King Kong will be competing for much of the same audience as Chronicles of Narnia, Buena Vista NZ marketing manager Susan Leigh expects the following for Adamson's film will stay strong.

"It's only a positive thing having two movies like this coming out and it's got to be good for the cinema industry," she said.

Chronicles of Narnia will add to a strong finish to the year for Hollywood after a slump that has lingered most of the year, with attendance down 7 per cent on the previous year.

And King Kong will provide a further boost.

"We've never needed two films like this more than we do now," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of US box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

"It's the knockout punch that Hollywood needs."

This week in the United States Chronicles of Narnia was up against the thriller Syriana, an oil-industry saga starring George Clooney and Matt Damon, which rated second place, and the Goblet of Fire, which slipped to third.

Other films released this week included Academy Awards hopefuls Brokeback Mountain and Memoirs of a Geisha, which both had stellar debuts.

Additional reporting, agencies