Dawn Treader Tops Lukewarm US Weekend B-O

DEC 13, 2010 - This holiday season's tepidness continues with The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Tourist. The overall weekend business was off nearly five percent from the same period last year when The Princess and the Frog led.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader docked with an estimated US$24.5 million on approximately 6,500 screens at 3,555 locations (3D showings at 1,989 venues accounted for 54 percent of business). It was hoped that a return to December, along with marketing that pushed the first movie's lion, witch and Christian angles and the addition of the 3D illusion would rekindle interest, but the third Narnia went south of the fantasy also-ran The Golden Compass, which mustered US$25.8 million on the same December weekend in 2007 (or nearly $30 million adjusted for ticket price inflation).

The Tourist fared relatively better than Narnia, packing an estimated US$17 million on around 3,400 screens at 2,756 locations.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Dec 10-12, 2010 weekend, in terms of rank, Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo.

1. Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Fox) $24.5 million ($24.5 million) 1

2. The Tourist (Sony / Columbia) $17.0 million ($17.0 million) 1

3. Tangled (Buena Vista) $14.6 million ($115.6 million) 3

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.) $8.5 million ($257.7 million) 4

5. Unstoppable (Fox) $3.8 million ($74.3 million) 5