LOS ANGELES - The fairy-tale romance "Enchanted'' maintained its magic at the box office, pulling in $17 million to remain the top movie amid a sleepy weekend at theatres.
Disney's "Enchanted,'' starring Amy Adams as a cartoon princess banished by her fiance's wicked stepmother (Susan Sarandon) to live-action Manhattan, raised its total to $70.6 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
After a solid Thanksgiving holiday in which revenues rose compared to the same period last year, Hollywood's business sank back into a box-office funk that has persisted most of the fall.
The top-12 movies took in $76.6 million, down six per cent from the same weekend last year, when "Happy Feet'' led the box office with $17.5 million and "Casino Royale'' was No. 2 with $15.1 million.
Because of record summer revenue, business for the year is up, with Hollywood taking in $8.7 billion domestically so far, a 4.7 per cent increase from 2006. Factoring in higher ticket prices, though, actual movie attendance is just a fraction ahead of last year's.
"After the strength of the summer, we expected the fall would follow suit, and it just hasn't done that,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "It's a good crop of films, but the marketplace just has not been able to rise above the levels we were hitting last year at this time.''
The weekend's only new wide release, the Weinstein Co. and MGM thriller "Awake,'' opened in fourth-place with $6 million. "Awake'' stars Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba and Terrence Howard in a tale about a man who is conscious during heart surgery and overhears his wife's plot to kill him.
In limited release, the acclaimed comic drama "The Savages'' debuted strongly with $153,121 in four New York City and Los Angeles theatres, averaging $38,280 a cinema, compared to a $3,002 average in 2,002 theatres for "Awake.''
Released by Fox Searchlight, "The Savages'' stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Line as estranged siblings forced back together to care for their ailing father. The film expands to more cities Dec. 21.
Also opening solidly was Miramax's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,'' which took in $75,300 in three theatres for a $25,100 average. The film stars Mathieu Amalric in the real-life story of French Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who had a paralyzing stroke and wrote a memoir of his experiences by dictating the book with blinks of his eye.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Enchanted,'' $17 million.
2. "This Christmas,'' $8.4 million.
3. "Beowulf,'' $7.9 million.
4. "Awake,'' $6 million.
5. "Hitman,'' $5.8 million.
6. "Fred Claus,'' $5.6 million.
7. "August Rush,'' $5.2 million.
8. "No Country for Old Men,'' $4.5 million.
9. "Bee Movie,'' $4.47 million.
10. "American Gangster,'' $4.3 million.
