Happy Feet Stuck In The Top Of The Box Office

Happy Feet Stuck In The Top Of The Box Office
The tap-dancing penguins held off James Bond once again in the North American Box office top.

"Happy Feet," the story of a penguin who cannot carry a tune but can tap-dance instead, earned $17 million, running a total of $121 million, while James Bond film "Casino Royale" cashed $15.1 million in, bringing its total earnings up to $115.9 million.

It’s been three weeks since the animated movie “Happy Feet” is atop the North American box office, discouraging all new entries and keeping the older ones off.

It looks like North American moviegoers prefer a dancing penguin over the 007 secret agent as for the third week in a row, “Happy Feet,” the cute penguin tale, kept “Casino Royale,” the latest James Bond installment, on the second spot in the box office.

“Happy Feet,” which cost $85 million to make, according to Internet Movie Database, cashed in from ticket sales about $17 million over the weekend and since its release a gross of $121 million while “Casino Royale,” earned little over $15 million and over the last 17 days, a total of $115.9 million.

While “Happy Feet” started out mainly a family film, good reviews and word-of-mouth pulled in more adults without children, said Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros.

“I think it’s just a good message, and it’s just well made. And we all like the music,” Fellman said.

The 21st in the Bond franchise, Sony's “Casino Royale,” with Daniel Craig as James Bond for the first time, cashed in $45.1 million keeping the second spot.

"The fans of James Bond that have been around for a long, long time are embracing (Craig) as Bond but he is creating new fans of Bond as well. We have the best of both worlds in that regard," said Rory Bruer, Sony's president of domestic distribution.

Outside America however, James Bond is the world’s favorite secret agent, passing a total sum of $300 million this weekend only. “Casino Royale” is expected to become the most successful Bond film ever. “Die Another Day,” the previous most successful Bond installment, earned a total of about $431 million.

The top five was completed by the time-travel thriller, “Déjà vu,” which kept its third place and two other Christmas films, “The Nativity Story” which debuted on the fourth spot and “Deck the Halls” with Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick, on the fifth.

Apparently, the low opening of “The Nativity Story,” a tale of Christ's humble birth, is due to the snow in the US Midwest.

"The storms in the middle of the country couldn't have hurt us more," said David Tuckerman, the head of distribution at New Line.

"It's a movie made for the heartland, and it killed us in the heartland."

According to Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracking company Media by Numbers, “Happy Feet” and “Casino Royale” had “really captured the marketplace.”

"It's been all about 'Happy Feet' and 'Casino Royale' for the past three weeks. Those films have really captured the marketplace," he told the Associated Press.

"I've never really seen two movies define the start of a holiday season in the way these two have," he added.

The new horror film "Turistas," about a bad trip to Brazil, was eighth with $3.5 million, and the comedy sequel "Wilder: The Return of Taj" limped in 10th with $2.3 million.

"Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" was finally beginning to fade, taking in more than $4.82 million but dropping more than 50 percent in receipts to come in seventh in its fifth weekend.

Here are the estimated Friday through yesterday ticket sales at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Media By Numbers LLC.

1. Happy Feet $ 17.05 million.
2. Casino Royale $ 15.1 million.
3. Deja Vu $ 11 million.
4. The Nativity Story $ 8 million.
5. Deck the Halls $ 6.6 million.
6. The Santa Clause 3: The Escaped Clause $ 5 million.
7. Borat: Cultural Learnings $ 4.8 million.
8. Turistas $ 3.5 million.
9. Stranger Than Fiction $ 3.4 million.
10. National Lampoon's Van Wilder $ 2.3 million. >