Universal’s CG-animated family film The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie managed to crack the top ten at the box office over the weekend, but a conservative release kept it from being a major contender as holdovers remained strong. The toon debuted at No. 9 with an estimated $4.4 million, while Warner Bros. The Bucket List opened wide to claim the top spot with approximately $19.5 million. Newcomer First Sunday from Sony ScreenGems followed closely with around $19 Million.
Written by Phil Vischer and directed by Mike Nawrocki, Pirates is the second big-screen outing for Big Idea’s lucrative VeggieTales franchise, which consists mainly of faith-based home video releases. The first theatrical release, Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, debuted to $6.2 million in 2002 and eventually earned $25.6 million worldwide, nearly double its production budget. The moderate success enticed Universal to climb aboard for the followup, which isn’t yet matching the performance of its predecessor but may have legs if word-of-mouth is strong enough among its core audience of Christian families.
The vegetable swashbucklers did succeed in besting the video-game characters that came to life in FreeStyle Releasing’s In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. Based on Microsoft’s Dungeon Siege game saga, the film debuted at No. 14, despite the star power of action favorite Jason Statham (Crank, The Transporter). The sword-and-sorcery flick from director Uwe Boll features visual effects by Rocket Science VFX, Frantic Films, Digiscope, Look! Effects, Das Werk, The Orphanage, Technicolor, Invisible Pictures, Bright Light Pictures, Enigma Studios and TVT Postproduction.
In its sixth week of release, the Fox Searchlight teen comedy Juno continues to climb the chart, resting at No. 3 over the weekend with around $14 million. The film and its star, Ellen Page, have benefited from Golden Globe noms, and may be top contenders in this years Oscar race.
After three weeks in the top spot, Disney’s National Treasure: Book of Secrets dropped to No. 4 with an estimated $11.5 million, while 20th Century Fox’s Alvin and the Chipmunks rounds out the top five with around $9.1 million. Alvin has actually pulled slightly ahead of Treasure in box office receipts, earning approximately $187.7 million since opening five weeks ago.
