Will Smith's new movie "I Am Legend" raked in a whopping 76.5 million dollars' worth of ticket sales this weekend in U.S. and Canadian theaters, far exceeding the expectations of industry insiders.

The Warner Bros.' sci-fi thriller, in which Smith plays a U.S. military virologist who finds himself the last man in the world as a result of a human-made virus disaster, significantly bolstered Hollywood's overall box office performance after a slump of several weeks.

Meanwhile, the live action-animated family film "Alvin and the Chipmunks" from 20th Fox Century became a super-sized No.2 with bigger-than-expected weekend takings of 45 million dollars.

The two new releases accounted for about 80 percent of all ticket sales among the weekend's 12 top-selling films in North America.

According to Los Angeles-based box office tracking firm Media By Numbers, the top 12 movies took in some 153.6 million dollars over the weekend, up 39 percent from the same weekend a year ago, when another Will Smith film, "The Pursuit of Happiness," was at No. 1.

"I Am Legend" not only broke Smith's personal opening record, exceeding the opening weekends of his previous blockbusters "I, Robot" and "Men in Black II," but also became the best December opening film in the movie industry's history. The previous December record had been held by "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" grossing 72.6 million dollars in 2003.

New Line Cinema's "The Golden Compass," last week's leader, slumped to third place with only 9 million dollars, a 65-percent drop from a disappointing debut weekend. The 180-million-dollar fantasy film has so far taken just 41 million dollars in North America, traditionally the major market for any big-budget Hollywood film.

But it may give some relief to New Line's executives that the film has performed much stronger overseas, taking 90 million dollars outside of North America since its release last weekend.
 
(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2007)