“Night at the Museum” Tops Box Office, Better than Expected

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“Night at the Museum,” starring Ben Stiller, who usually plays in funny movies without managing to be funny himself, scored this weekend a big revenue at the box office and also showed, maybe for the first time, Stiller can really be funny. With an estimated $30.8 million garnered over the weekend, the comedy exceeded expectations for 20th Century Fox, which had been counting on a bit more than $20 million, said head of distribution Bruce Snyder. "For a tough weekend, this is an amazing number," Bruce Snyder, president of domestic theatrical distribution at the News Corp.-owned studio. "Everybody is pretty preoccupied." Sony’s “The Pursuit of Happyness,” starring Will Smith, came in second this week with $15 million, raising its 10-day total to $53.3 million. Other new releases included the Sylvester Stallone boxing comeback "Rocky Balboa" at No. 3 with $12.5 million, the Robert De Niro-directed spy drama "The Good Shepherd" at No. 4 with $10 million, and the football melodrama "We Are Marshall" at No. 7 with a disappointing $6.6 million, reports Reuters. Good-hearted dreamer Larry Daley (Ben Stiller), despite being perpetually down on his luck, thinks he's destined for something big. But even he could never have imaged how "big," when he accepts what appears to be a menial job as a graveyard-shift security guard at a museum of natural history, reports Wikipedia. During Larry's watch, extraordinary things begin to occur: Mayans, Roman Gladiators, and cowboys emerge from their diorama to wage epic battles; in his quest for fire, a Neanderthal burns down his own display; Attila the Hun (Patrick Gallagher) pillages his neighboring exhibits, and a T-Rex reminds everyone why he's history's fiercest predator. Amidst the chaos, the only person Larry can turn to for advice is a wax figure of President Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams), who helps our hero harness the bedlam, stop a nefarious plot, and save the museum. "`Night at the Museum' has had a very strong Christmas weekend opening," said Gitesh Pandya, editor of New York-based Box Office Guru, which tracks movie performance, quoted by Bloomberg. "It is on track for at or near $100 million by the end of New Year's weekend." The Los Angeles Times described it as "tedious," and the New York Post as "highly derivative." It is PG-rated in the US for mild action, language and brief rude humor. “Night at the Museum” has an users' rating of 6.3/10 on IMDB. Estimated ticket sales for Dec. 22-24, according to Media By Numbers LLC: 1. “Night at the Museum,” $30.8 million 2. “The Pursuit of Happyness,” $15 million 3. “Rocky Balboa,” $12.5 million. 4. “The Good Shepherd,” $10 million 5. “Charlotte’s Web,” $8 million 6. “Eragon,” $7.15 million 7. “We Are Marshall,” $6.6 million 8. “Happy Feet,” $5.1 million 9. “The Holiday,” $5 million 10. “The Nativity Story,” $4.65 million