Big laughs at US box office!

Comedy was no laughing matter at the North American box-office over the weekend as Meet The Fockers held on to the top position for the third week in a row, firmly pushing horror movie White Noise to second place.

Yet White Noise, which -- like most films of its genre -- was panned by the critics, opened strongly with $24 million, grossing about $4.5 million less than Fockers. Both films were released by Universal.

Fockers, which came down by about 32 percent from a highflying weekend, has amassed $204 million and continues to do solid business. The film, which surprised many industry veterans by its box-office performance, is expected to gross at least $250 million. Made for $80 million -- half the budget of The Polar Express -- it has already recouped its negative cost.

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The comedy sequel that reunites Ben Stiller and Robert de Niro and new characters enacted by Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand as Stiller's eccentric parents is also drawing large audiences abroad.

As in the previous weeks, comedy films, including Ocean's Twelve, dominated the American box-office. So, the arrival of White Noise offered horror fans, who were disappointed with Darkness, light at the end of the tunnel.

Michael Keaton, who hasn't had a major role in a long time, plays a widower in White Noise, convinced his wife is trying to communicate with him through his television set. But when he spurns the intermediary who set up the communication and tries to reach his wife on his own, complications brew fast.

Boston Globe's Wesley Morris called the film, '...a moronic exercise in supernatural claptrap,' and in Chicago Tribune, Michael Wilmington wrote: 'Hollywood and Michael Keaton try to make a decent thriller out of ghosts in the machine but come up with lousy reception and static.' But the audiences used their own antennae and gave the film a better-than-expected reception.

Even if White Noise came down by about 50 percent in the next week as most horror and sci-fi films do, it is headed for a decent $60 million haul in North America. And if it doesn't go for a huge drop in the next two or three weeks, it could be a $100 million-grossing movie like The Grudge.

Horror films seldom fail at the box-office, unless they are made for $100 million. Even the much maligned Darkness, which cost $11 million, is already profitable as it is ending its four week long run with $22-$25 million.

At third position is Martin Scorsese's biopic The Aviator, which, at its current rate of attrition, is headed for a $75 million gross in North America. But major Oscar nominations and a couple of wins could make it a better player. Like most big budget American films that need a strong worldwide response, the Scorsese epic also needs to perform strongly in Europe and Asia before it can show signs of recouping its $110-$120 million investment, and a marketing cost of at least $80 million.

Kid fantasy comedy Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events has pocketed $105.5 million after four weekends, becoming the ninth Jim Carrey film to fly past the $100 million mark in North America. But since the film cost $140 million, it can be profitable only if it does well abroad (say, at least $150 million) and its DVD and video sales gross at least $200 million worldwide. 

Low-budget comedy Fat Albert is having a stout box-office response. With $41.3 million in three weeks, it was the fifth highest grossing movie over the weekend and has already recouped its investment, estimated to be $20 million.

The top 10 was rounded out by Ocean's Twelve and National Treasure, followed by the comedy Spanglish, the musical The Phantom Of The Opera, and the unconventional comedy The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.

Though The Phantom has been showing only in about 670 theatres for the past three weeks, it is singing with gusto, and has pocketed about $21 million. The film is poised for a couple of expansions in the coming weeks.

With school and college holidays over, The Polar Express lost plenty of steam, dropping from the eight to the 14th position. Even then, the film grossed $2 million and is on its way to a $170 million gross in North America. Industry observers believe the film would have crashed in a few weeks had not distributor Warner refused to accept its weak opening and lack of critical raves.

The $160 million animated movie grossed just about $23 million in 3,650 theatres. But Warner kept the theatre count and publicity up, taking the film into the holiday period, often with the smallest week-to-week decline. With a worldwide $260 million gross and plenty to come in the next four weeks, its final profitability rests on worldwide DVD and video sales.

Two smaller films, which are big favourites with the critics, made impressive gains as they added dozens of theatres, though they did not break into the top 10. The heart-wrenching drama Million Dollar Baby which, over the weekend, was named as the best film of the year by the National Society of Film Critics, grossed $2 million, having added 100 theatres. It was at 15 on the chart.

The Don Cheadle biopic, Hotel Rwanda, also a survival drama, added 95 theatres and grossed $1.15 million, reaching the 20th position on the chart.

The best film of the year, according to leading critics, Sideways, is still showing in a modest number of theatres. At the 18th position on this week's chart with a $2 million gross from some 360 theatres, it has grossed an impressive $25 million in three months. Even at the current rate, the $16 million film could reach the break-even point in about four weeks. If it gets significant number of Oscar nominations, as per predictions from major critics and box-office observers, it will be playing in about 1,000 theatres by the end of January.

Box office estimates for North America, January 7-9

Rank	Film	Weekend gross	Total gross	Number of weeks
1	Meet The Fockers	$28.5 million (down by 31.8%)	$204.3m	3
2	White Noise	$24 million	$24m	New
3	The Aviator	$7.6 million (down 33%)	$42.9m	4
4	Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events	$7.4 million (down 49%)	$105m	4
5	Fat Albert	$6 million (down 41%)	$41.3m	3
6	Ocean's Twelve	$5.4 million (down 40%)	$41.3m	5
7	National Treasure	$4.5 million (down 34%)	$160m	8
8	Spanglish	$4.4 million (down 29%)	$37.6m	4
9	The Phantom Of The Opera	$3.4 million (down 28 %)	$21.5m	3
10	The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou	$2.7 million (down 40%)	$19.3m	5