Editorials > I Am Legend Takes Home $76.5 Million

Will Smith has made a career out of topping the box office, and this weekend was no exception when his sci-fi thriller I Am Legend took $76.5 million domestically. This made for Smith's best box office take ever, and the best for December as well. 

Alvin and the Chipmunks landed in second place with a very respectable $45 million. One almost wonders where all this money came from for this particular weekend.

Ah, it came from the rest of the box office. In a distant third place, The Golden Compass made a meager $9 million. Other new opener The Perfect Holiday landed in sixth place with $2.96 million ($3.61 million total, counting Wednesday and Thursday). Though in the case of the prestigious period piece Atonement, $1.85 million and ninth place marked a rather successful weekend as it only played in 117 engagements. 

Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth made a decent $27,815 from six venues, while Juno made a fantastic $1.4 million from 40 venues. So if you do the math, that means that Juno made more in one engagement than Youth Without Youth made in all six of its venues.

Here's the box office in "strictly the facts" format:

1. I Am Legend- $76.5m
2. Alvin and the Chipmunks- $45m
3. The Golden Compass- $9.03m
4. Enchanted- $6m
5. No Country for Old Men- $3m
6. The Perfect Holiday- $2.96m
7. Fred Claus- $2.31m
8. This Christmas- $2.3m
9. Atonement- $1.85m
10. August Rush- $1.78m

(The Hollywood Reporter) 

-David Morgan