LOS ANGELES - "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" scored a much-needed box office hit for Walt Disney Co, taking in US$67 million (NZ$95m) at the US box office for the second-biggest debut ever in a weekend in December.
"Narnia," based on the popular children's books by C.S. Lewis, fell just below the record US$72.6 million three-day opening for 2003's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," but outpaced the first "Rings" film, "The Fellowship of the Ring," which grossed US$47 million in 2001.
Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, said the strong "Narnia" debut helped boost ticket sales by nearly 17 per cent over the same weekend one year ago.
Disney has high hopes "Narnia" will be the first in a series of seven fantasy films based on the Lewis novels. Disney needs "Narnia" to spur a franchise like the "Harry Potter" movies to bolster it as a top provider of family fare.
The movie took in an estimated US$42 million in 14 international markets, too, Disney said.
"This is one of those movies that's playing to everybody, and everybody is loving it," said Chuck Viane, Disney distribution chief. He said the film scored an "A-plus" rating in audience polls by industry researcher CinemaScore and seemed "poised to do well."
"Syriana," an oil-and-politics thriller starring George Clooney and Matt Damon, climbed to No. 2 from 12th place on the box office chart with US$12 million.
POTTER "FIRE" SIMMERS
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" slipped to third after dominating box offices for its previous three weeks. It garnered US$10.3 million this weekend to bring its box office total to US$244 million.
"Syriana" and "Harry Potter" were released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc.
"Walk the Line," a Johnny Cash biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, topped US$77 million during its fourth weekend in theaters to surpass the Ray Charles biopic "Ray," which took in US$75.3 million.
Chris Aronson, senior vice president of domestic distribution at 20th Century Fox, said the studio believes the film has "a lot of life ahead of us going into the Christmas season."
Paramount Pictures' family comedy "Yours, Mine & Ours," starring Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo, took the No. 5 spot with US$5.2 million, bringing its total sales to US$40.9 million in three weeks. Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.
Two Oscar hopefuls, "Brokeback Mountain" and "Memoirs of a Geisha," debuted in only a few US cities over the weekend, ahead of wider releases later this month.
Both had strong per screen averages, with gay cowboy romance "Brokeback" taking in US$108,910 per screen in five theaters and "Geisha" reaping US$84,250 per screen in eight theaters.
"Our per-screen average was great (in the US)," said Gary Barber, chairman of Spyglass Entertainment, which produced the movie and is distributing it overseas.
"In Japan, it looked like a very, very solid opening and ... we estimated it will take in US$2 million over two days" there, Barber said.
- REUTERS
'Narnia' turns fantasy into hard cash
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