U.S Box Office Report - 8th - 10th December 2006

1. Apocalypto - $14.2M - $14.2M
2. The Holiday - $13.5M - $13.5M
3. Happy Feet - $12.7M - $138M
4. Casino Royale - $8.8M - $129M
5. Blood Diamond - $8.52M - $8.52M
6. Unaccompanied Minors - $6.21M - $6.21M
7. Deja Vu - $6.07M - $53M
8. The Nativity Story - $5.4M - $15.6M
9. Deck the Halls - $3.92M - $30.4M
10. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause - $3.31M - $77.2M

Mel Gibson's recent problems don't appear to have affected his box office clout too much. Apocalypto opens in the top spot with a decent taking of $14.1M. The film faced competition from not only three other new entries, but also the flood of people forgoing a cinema visit in order to finish (or start) Christmas shopping. The film also had the added complication of being in Mayan, with subtitles - something that studios tend to feel can kill a film (because we all know how successful dubbed movies can be). Gibson's movie cost just $40M and garnered a lot of free publicity after his arrest (though I can imagine it wasn't the way Gibson or Disney would have wanted it) and should quickly see a profit, though nothing to compare to The Passion.

It was thought The Holiday might pip Apocalypto this weekend after a strong Friday but Gibson's movie pulled away on the Saturday and Sunday. Still The Holiday took second spot and faced little competition in the 18-35 female demographic. The film scored mainly average reviews and needs to be in it for the long haul given its huge budget ($80M). It's certainly good news for Jack Black and Jude Law, whose recent movies have struggled to find a market. Still, Happy Feet in its fourth weekend nearly bested it, so the studio won't be breathing easy just yet.

With only slim competition from Unaccompanied Minors, Happy Feet dropped just 27% from last weekend. It should beat out Over The Hedge's $155M take but will still sit a long way behind Ice Age 2 and Cars which are the biggest CGI movies of this year. Happy Feet has still to open in a number of foreign markets and should manage another month on the charts.

Fighting nearly neck and neck for the past few weekend, Happy Feet pulls ahead of Casino Royale. Unlike Happy Feet, Royale faced strong competition in the form of Apocalypto this weekend. Bond should cross the $130M mark early this coming week. Worldwide it has taken $324M (inc US takings) and may well see $400M before the end of its box office run. Curiously the movie has been number 1 in every location save for the US.

Blood Diamond, opening on 1900 screens struggled to find a market against both the old and new movies in the top ten. Faced with some decidedly average reviews and controversy regarding its portrayal of the diamond industry, the Di Caprio starrer might have benefited from a less crowded market and better pre-release publicity. Confusing marketing didn't help the movie either - action adventure or morality tale? Either way, the movie will face even more competition next week and may not fare as well as The Holiday or Apocalypto should.

The Terminal crossed with Home Alone is how Unaccompanied minors is being billed. The children's comedy didn't appeal to the young who were happy to stick with Happy Feet and struggled to find anyone else who was interested in seeing the movie. The kids they were trying to appeal to are probably the ones trying to sneak into Borat.

Deja Vu sits at six and crosses the $50M mark this weekend. It should finish up around $75M, recouping its production budget in the process. New entry last weekend, The Nativity Story, failed to cash in on the potential Sunday market and drops four places in its second weekend. It has been estimated that the movie would perform much stronger on Sunday thanks to the huge church going public taking it in - it seems this never happened and the film actually took less last Sunday than it did last Saturday. This will be its last weekend on the chart.

Two Christmas movies make up the tail end, both seeing their last weekend in the top ten too. The Santa Clause should finish around $90M while Deck The Halls will struggle onward to $40M.