'Night' bright at box office

'Dreamgirls' jumps to third with $20.3 mil

By IAN MOHR

New Year’s weekend biz for “Night at the Museum” jumped 21% percent over the prior weekend, as family auds turned out in force.

'Dreamgirls' made an impressive vault up to third place.

Holdovers ruled the roost during the New Year's four-day frame, as Fox's "Night at the Museum" continued to spin the turnstiles at the multiplexes, taking in $46.7 million over the extended four-day holiday and easily landing at No.1 again at the B.O.

The PG family film starring Ben Stiller, playing in 3,768 locations, scored a robust per-playdate average of $12,394. Biz on the pic jumped 21%.

Paramount and DreamWorks' musical "Dreamgirls" made an impressive vault up the charts to No. 3, with an estimated four-day take of $18.7 million off 852.

Pic's cume has skipped to $41.6 million in its first full frame after opening on Christmas.

Four-day weekend was also par-ticularly kind to pics that have gotten off to generally slow starts as auds turned out at the multiplexes for specialty films and heavier fare, too.

Picturehouse's "Pan's Labyrinth" got off to a solid start out of the gate in what has been a generally tough time for specialty pics this season (see accompanying story). Miramax's "The Queen" -- one of a few specialty pics that has shown crossover potential -- actually saw biz jump more than 100% over the frame. Other pics to get good gooses from New Year's biz included heavier studio fare from "The Good Shepherd" to "Blood Diamond" and "Children of Men," and some fluffy or feel-good stuff that's been underperforming, from "The Holiday" to "We Are Marshall."

Nine of the pics in the top 10 saw biz boosted, all except for Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky Balboa," and overall biz jumped 3% past last year's mark over the same frame when a raft of tentpoles were standing tall including "King Kong." Biz was down just 1% over the four day frame from 2004's lofty levels.

Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto," meantime, which has been struggling somewhat also had its biz jump over the three day frame for New Year's, by almost 19% from last weekend. But the pic found its grosses dipping back down slightly as of Monday as New Year's Day proved a soft one for the subtitled epic.

Sony's "The Pursuit of Happyness," another family friendly PG-13-rated pic, starring Will Smith, meantime, passed the $100 million mark, landing at No. 2. Pic took in $24.7 million and jumped its biz 10% from the prior weekend. Cume has hit $103.4 million after three weekends in release.

Par's G-rated update of the classic kids tale, "Charlotte's Web," got a nice bump in biz to raise its cume to $56.3 million over the four days. Pic took in $15.5 million off 3,745. Studio got off to a slow start with "Web," which has stuck around as more moms have been freed up after Christmas to take their kids.

Over a healthy frame for New Year's weekend -- only Sunday biz was soft this year thanks to prepping for New Year's Eve -- Universal's "The Good Shepherd" also got a needed bump. Pic peaked 52% to take in $14.5 million off 2,218. Robert DeNiro-helmed political pic played too a hefty per-playdate average of $12,394 to raise its cume to nearly $55.5 million.

MGM's "Rocky Balboa" saw biz dip, but is still hanging in: Pic has now cumed $51.1 million in two frames. Pic's budget was estimated at about $24 million and reps the rejuvenated studio's first clear B.O. winner.

"Rocky" in just two frames is MGM's top pic of 2006.

After seeing a precipitous drop in its second frame of biz, Fox's "Eragon," the bigscreen adaptation of the phenom fantasy book, flapped back to life a bit, boosting biz over the four day frame by 19% to take in $10.5 million.

Pic's cume has flown to just under $59 million in three weekends of release.

Warner Bros.' pigskin drama "We Are Marshall" had fumbled in its first game, but scored a 19% jump in ticket sales to stay in the bottom half of the top 10. Pic touched $10.2 million off just under 3,000 locations. Cume is still somewhat soft, however, at $27.3.

Rounding out the top 10 were Warners' "Happy Feet," the CG animated pic that's flipped to $178 million in seven weeks for the studio, and Sony's "The Holiday," which hung around to stay in charts by adding $8.5 million to its tally.

Frame was also kind to some other beleaguered pics that have had a tough time at the B.O. of late in a crowded December.

Warners' "Blood Diamond" missed the top 10 but did raise biz by 37% to take in $6.5 million over the four days. Pic -- starring Leonard DiCaprio as an African diamond smuggler -- has cumed $37.4 million in a month while issue movies have been having trouble competing with lighter fare.

And Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto," from Disney, was up 18.6% over the three days, taking in $3.4 million off 1,682. Subtitled epic has cumed $42.7 million in four frames. Biz over the four day mark was down a slight 1.3%.

Next frame shouldn't rep too much of a challenge for "Night" and "Pursuit," as well as "Dreamgirls," as little primo product goes wide after a holiday hangover for movie junkies.

Fox brass said that "Museum" is one of a few pics in the market that's playing to all auds, and was an easy option for an entire family to choose as they headed to the movies.