‘Legend’ Will Smith alone atop the US box office

LOS ANGELES – Will Smith’s apocalyptic thriller ‘I Am Legend’ took the top spot at the North American box office over the weekend, bagging US$76,5 million in ticket sales, preliminary figures showed on Sunday.

Smith’s film was well ahead of the children’s comedy ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’, about a trio of singing animals, which took in US$45 million in its opening weekend, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. ‘Legend’, which also opened over the weekend, stars Smith as a scientist who is the world’s lone survivor of a virus that transforms humans into blood-thirsty mutants.After topping last week’s box office with US$25,8 million, ‘The Golden Compass’, a fantasy film that had been expected to rake in blockbuster figures, fell to third place with just over nine million dollars despite good reviews.The reported 180-million-dollar film, starring Nicole Kidman and James Bond actor Daniel Craig, took 25,8 million dollars, has been criticised by Christian groups as being anti-religious.The Disney fairytale ‘Enchanted’ dropped from second to fourth place with six million dollars, while the latest Coen brothers movie, ‘No Country for Old Men’, rose one spot to fifth place with three million.Nampa-AFP’Legend’, which also opened over the weekend, stars Smith as a scientist who is the world’s lone survivor of a virus that transforms humans into blood-thirsty mutants.After topping last week’s box office with US$25,8 million, ‘The Golden Compass’, a fantasy film that had been expected to rake in blockbuster figures, fell to third place with just over nine million dollars despite good reviews.The reported 180-million-dollar film, starring Nicole Kidman and James Bond actor Daniel Craig, took 25,8 million dollars, has been criticised by Christian groups as being anti-religious.The Disney fairytale ‘Enchanted’ dropped from second to fourth place with six million dollars, while the latest Coen brothers movie, ‘No Country for Old Men’, rose one spot to fifth place with three million.Nampa-AFP