The Ben Stiller flick “Night at the Museum” took the holiday title belt from “Rocky Balboa” over the weekend.
The comedy, set in the Museum of Natural History, took in a heavyweight-worthy $30.8 million, making it the highest-grossing film for the Christmas weekend.
“Balboa” – which like “Museum” was in its opening weekend – came in third behind Will Smith’s “The Pursuit of Happyness.”
But a pound-for-pound case could be made for the relatively low-budget Sylvester Stallone boxing movie – it cost $24 million to make – in which the aging fighter comes back 30 years later. “Balboa” took in $12.5 million over the Christmas weekend and $22 million since it opened last Wednesday.
Meanwhile other highly anticipated films posted disappointing numbers.
The Robert De Niro-directed, Matt Damon-starring CIA flick “The Good Shepherd” had some mediocre numbers, finishing fourth in its opening weekend with $9.9 million.
The fantasy dragon film “Eragon” dropped sharply after its $23.2 million opening weekend two weeks ago, to take in only $7.1 million last weekend.
The Matthew McConaughey football film “We Are Marshall” opened in seventh, taking in only $6.6 million.