Weekend Estimates: I Am Legend Makes History
December 16, 2007
I Am Legend broke a weak spell at the box office in spectacular fashion over the weekend, earning a massive $76.5 million, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
If that number holds up, Legend will be the biggest opener ever in raw dollars in December (see full chart), beating the $72.6 million earned by Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in December 2003.
It's also comfortably the biggest opening weekend of Will Smith's career, topping the $52.2 million earned by I, Robot in its first outing.
Adjusted for ticket-price inflation, however, Legend is slightly behind Return of the King, and is Smith's second-biggest opening behind Independence Day.
Alvin and the Chipmunks may not have had quite as spectacular an opening, but it also did far better than expectations, earning an estimated $45 million.
That's enough to put it in the top 10 openers for December -- a remarkable achievement for a movie that had modest ambitions compared to the other movies in that esteemed list.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, I am Legend, Alvin and the Chipmunks