Alvin and the Chipmunks courtesy 20th Century Fox
While Nic Cage's National Treasure: Book of Secrets repeated as the weekend box-office champ (taking in another $35.6 million, for a gross of $124 mil to date), the big story belonged to three furry little fellas. In its third week of release, Alvin & the Chipmunks seized the No. 2 spot from Will Smith with a $30 mil haul, and is now on pace to be one of the year's top-10 grossing pics. (Its tally stands at $142.4 mil.) Rounding out the weekend's top five were I Am Legend ($27.5 mil, $194.6 mil to date), Charlie Wilson's War (up 23 percent from last weekend, with $11.8 mil) and Juno (surging 201 percent in wider release, with $10.3 mil).Also this weekend, Katherine Heigl's 27 Dresses is said to have sneak-peeked extremely well, selling out most of its 539 screenings.What's your take? Did anyone out there catch 27 Dresses? Is this the film that shoots Heigl into the movie-star stratosphere?
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National Treasure: Book of Secrets courtesy Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
National Treasure: Book of Secrets, starring Nicolas Cage, topped the weekend box office with $45.5 million, besting the original's $35.1 mil opening. Last week's champ, I Am Legend, came in second with $34.2 mil.Rounding out the top five were Alvin and the Chipmunks ($29 mil), Charlie Wilson's War ($9.6 mil in its debut) and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (scraping together $9.35 mil across just 1,249 screens).Among other new releases, P.S. I Love You came in at No. 6 with $6.5 million, while the widely praised Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story disappointed with an eighth-place finish, taking in just $4.1 mil.Update: Jessica Simpson's Blonde Ambition reportedly grossed $384 — no typo there — on its opening day. See film critic Ken Fox's A Beautiful Fraud blog for that story.
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