New releases were a source of happiness on the home market as they first one - two this week. Leading the way was Pursuit of Happyness with an impressive $9.95 million while fellow happy release, Happy Feet, placed second with $8.26 million. Blood Diamond fell from first to third with $7.60 million for the week and $16.60 million after two. Eragon held on well down a mere 13% to $6.77 million. Meanwhile, Casino Royale fell to fifth place with $6.54 million for a total of $23.76 million after three.

Despite winning the coveted DVD Pick of the Week, Children of Men could only manage eighth place with $5.27 million. It did perform better on the sales chart. Turistas was well behind in 12th place with $2.57 million while fellow short-run release, Van Wilder Deux: Rise of Taj placed 17th with $2.20 million. Curse of the Golden Flower opened with $1.53 million, which is a little low even compared to its disappointing opening. The finally new release to chart was Candy in 24th place with $1.29 million, or nearly 30 times more than it earned theatrically.

It was also a double shot of happiness on the sales chart, but this time Happy Feet was able to take first place outselling Pursuit of Happyness by a more than 2-1 margin. This pushed Eragon into third place. Children of Men opened in fourth place, which was four places higher than its ranking on the rental charts. Blood Diamond and Casino Royale were in a virtual tie for fifth place.

The next best new releases were Turistas and Van Wilder Deux: Rise of Taj in tenth and eleventh places respectively. The final theatrical release to chart was Curse of the Golden Flower, which placed 16, while the final new release overall was Full House - The Complete Sixth Season opening in 19th place.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Date posted: 2007-04-07