U.S Box Office Report - 25th - 27th November 2006

1. Happy Feet - $37.9M - $100.1M
2. Casino Royale - $31M - $94.2M
3. Deja Vu - $20.8M - $29M
4. Deck the Halls -- $12M - $16.8M
5. Borat: - $10.4M00,000 - $109.2M
6. The Santa Clause 3 - $10M - $67.1M
7. Stranger Than Fiction - $6M - $32.7M
8. Flushed Away -$5.8M - $57.3M
9. Bobby - $4.9M - $6.1M
10. The Fountain - $3.7M - $5.4M

Box Office is a bit higher this weekend, with it being Thanksgiving on Thursday many families have a post turkey visit to the cinema. Happy Feet crosses the $100M mark in its second weekend on the chart, dropping just 8% from last weekend's taking, which is pretty damn impressive.

Happy Feet pulled ahead of Casino Royale over the weekend, but earlier in the week Bond was packing more people in on a daily basis. In fact, estimates show that Bond reigned supreme until Saturday, as which point Happy Feet pulled ahead. Saturday seemed to have been won by Happy Feet by a couple of million dollars - possibly people shopping on Black Friday, giving the cinema a miss until the weekend? Who is to say.

What does matter is that both Happy Feet & Casino Royale have performed very well all week, easily seeing off a slew of new releases as they've popped onto the schedule (Deja Vu and Deck the Halls were both released on Wednesday). Casino Royale has taken a worldwide total of $222M as of today, proving that the new look & new Bond have been firmly embraced by the public. The film is well on track to best Die Another Day's $161M. By Tuesday Casino Royale will have passed the $100M mark.

And so to our first new release. Tony Scott and Denzel Washington re-team for time travel thriller Deja Vu. Much has been made of the fact that the movie was one of the first to be shot in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina (if memory serves me correctly the shoot was delayed rather than move somewhere else - injecting some much needed cash & support into New Orleans). For a Denzel movie, Deja Vu has performed pretty much on track - out of his last 7 movies, only Inside Man has broken the $22M barrier, with most sitting around $20M. Factoring in the thanksgiving taking and Deja Vu has had a pretty successful weekend.

Sitting a way behind is the Christmas comedy Deck The Halls with a disappointing thanksgiving taking of $16M. The movie was shot very quickly over summer to make its release date but perhaps could have benefited from being released on a less crowded weekend. Trailers (and reviews) where both uninspiring and the movie faces an uphill struggle now. The film was being aimed squarely at the market who made Yours, Mine & Ours a hit this time last year.

Borat & The Santa Clause 3 sit next, both taking over $10M, in their fourth weekends. Borat crossed the $100M mark this weekend while Santa Clause 3 is fighting for every penny. Expect it to finish up around $85M, while Borat should end up with a domestic run of around $135-140M.

Stranger Than Fiction recoups its production budget this weekend but won't be the financial success that Sony might have been hoping for. On the critical front the movie has had plenty of good notices for Will Ferrel and Emma Thompson, with some saying this could be the dramatic crossover that Ferrel has been waiting for. Could we see a 'Eternal Sunshine' style follow up?

Flushed Away sits at 8. For the first few weekends it stayed near neck and neck with main rival Santa Clause 3 but has begun to lag behind. This will be its last weekend in the top ten and one wonders if Aardman will attempt a further CGI related movie or stick with what it knows. Flushed Away cost a huge $149M.

Opening wider after its limited release last weekend, ensemble biopic Bobby just makes it into the top ten with a $5M take from its 1600 screens. The Emilio Estevez directed film suffered from a number of bad reviews, looking more like a spot-the-cameo than offering much needed drama.

Rounding out the top ten is the much delayed Darrren Aronofsky drama The Fountain. Starring Hugh Jackman & Rachel Weisz, the time bending, near psychedelic tale had been a tough sell for the studio, with rumours that it would shelved altogether hovering around for a few months prior to release. When the film was finally granted a release date, it moved around a number of times before settling on this weekend. Released onto 1400 theatres, the film has struggled to find an audience but cultd-om is almost assured.

Sitting outside the top ten is Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny. Pushed out on just under 2000 screens, the movie had a thanksgiving taking of just $5M. I doubt the movie will expand next weekend and may well disappear quicker than Snakes on a Plane did in August. What happened with it? Perhaps 'The D' just don't have the widespread appeal that got the movie greenlit? No idea on this one, folks, I expected it to open behind Deck The Halls, perhaps even besting it.