Christmas Eve Box Office Up 25% From 2006

By Steve Mason/Dec. 24, 2007 11:55 pm EST

Christmas Eve is never a big day at America's multiplexes, but Monday was considerably stronger than December 24, 2006. The top movie last year was Night at the Museum with $5.7M. By comparison, National Treasure: Book of Secrets (Disney) has registered an $8.4M estimated haul. The latest adventure of treasure hunter Ben Gates has now raked in $54.6M in 4 days.

Christmas Day will bring 3 more wide releases,Alien Versus Predator: Requiem (Fox), The Water Horse: The Legend of the Deep (Sony) and The Great Debaters (Weinstein/MGM) plus Juno (Fox Searchlight) will expand to 994 locations, so there's a certain Darwinism to the holiday season. A total of 9 major films will have opened wide or expanded wide in a 5-day period.

It is, however, a good sign that last year's top 12 films on Christmas Eve grossed a cumulative total of $21.34M compared to this year's $26.5M haul for the top 12. Also, 3 films with $5M+ bodes well for Chrisrmas Day.

EARLY CHRISTMAS EVE ESTIMATES

1. NEW National Treasure: Book of Secrets (Disney) – $8,420,034, $2,197 PTA [$54,680,784 cume]

2. I Am Legend (Warner Bros.) – $5,329,500, $1,472 PTA [$142,833,500 cume]

3. Alvin and the Chipmunks (Fox) – $5,055,962, $1,445 PTA [$89,967,512 cume]

4. NEW Charlie Wilson's War (Universal) – $2,007,480, $780 PTA [$11,623,910 cume]

5. NEW Sweeney Todd (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $1,377,576, $1,103 PTA [$10,714,776 cume]

6. Enchanted (Disney) – $947,232, $344 PTA [$99,390,432 cume]

7. NEW P.S. I Love You (Warner Bros.) – $855,360, $349 PTA [$7,364,360 cume]

8. The Golden Compass (New Line) – $702,797, $238 PTA [$49,121,347 cume]

9. NEW Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (Sony) – $645,964, $244 PTA [$4,749,764 cume]

10. Juno (Fox Searchlight) – $583,389, $1,919 PTA [$6,962,289cume]

11. Atonement (Focus) – $351,135, $1,182 PTA [$6,141,635 cume]

12. No Country for Old Men (Miramax) – $331,266, $217 PTA [$37,048,566 cume]

* The Kite Runner (Paramount Vantage) – $245,795, $652 PTA [$2,111,945 cume]

* The Savages (Fox Searchlight) – $49,758, $829 PTA [$822,818 cume]

* The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Miramax) – $28,940, $877 PTA [$443,847 cume]

* NEW Steep (Sony Classics) – $4,833, $284 PTA [$29,697 cume]

* NEW Blonde Ambition (First Look) – $149, $19 PTA [$1,494 cume]

* NEW Flakes (IFC Films) – $44, $44 PTA [$255 cume]