Will Smith’s ‘Pursuit of Happyness’ tops us box office. The father-son drama starring Smith and his own son, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, debuted as the No. 1 movie with $27 million. Smith’s ‘Eragon,’ a fantasy tale about a boy and his flying dragon, debuted in second position with $23.45 million.
“Charlotte’s Web,” based on the EB White novel about the friendship between a talking spider and a pig named Wilbur, debuted in third place with about $12 million. But ‘happy Feet’ grossed about $8.5 million this weekend and remained in the top four. Mel Gibson’s Mayan saga ‘Apocalypto’ which was No.1 last weekend fell to sixth place with $7.7 million.
Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony, whose past hits with Smith include the ‘Men in Black’ flicks and last year’s romantic comedy ‘Hitch,’ said,
Audiences around the world love him. Everyone who sees Will Smith or meets Will Smith feels like he could be their best friend. He has that type of charisma that resonates throughout whatever room he’s in.
Paramount’s musical ‘Dreamgirls’, starring Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson opened to big numbers at three theaters in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh’s latest collaboration, ‘The Good German,’ debuted solidly with $78,572 at five theaters.
Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers said,
It’s hard to say this is a positive thing that this is a down weekend. But the strength of this weekend has been the holdovers. There is a lot of depth to the marketplace. It’s a direct reflection of audience satisfaction. That’s more important I think than beating last year’s competition.
With this success Will Smith must be on the top of the world. Before this he earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in ‘Pursuit’, ‘Eragon’. His real son Jaden Christopher Syre Smith seems to be as good as his father.
