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The other four noteworthy films from Wednesday are the three openers from last weekend as well as a chick flick that will be a factor throughout the 12 days of Christmas. Will Smith's new awards contending project, The Pursuit of Happyness, earned $2.9 million, bringing its grand total to $35.2 million. Mr. Smith's career is in much better shape than it was with Ali, innit? An argument could be made that he's the most consistent A-list talent working in Hollywood today.

Finishing in third place is Charlotte's Web. The $2.0 million the movie adaptation earned on Wednesday allows it to surpass Eragon for the first time during their release. Charlotte's Web's paltry box office to date of $16.5 million is nothing to gloat about, though. Meanwhile, the horribly reviewed dragon-fire tale manages just under $1.8 million, and there is definite cause for concern about its staying power within the top ten.

Conversely, the title that rounds out the top five, The Holiday, will run like a fine German automobile throughout the Twelve Days of Box Office. Another $1.2 million today gives the project $28.7 million, putting it just ahead of Eragon's $28.5 million. Bet on Kate Winslet long term. A good example of why this time frame is so important to Hollywood may be explained in one simple statement about The Holiday. The project is up 15% from the prior Wednesday. The late December box office tide lifts all boats. I'll offer anecdotal as well as data-specific demonstrations of this in the coming days, so keep coming back to BOP over the next two weeks. While other sites are taking the holidays off, our content will be better than ever.

Box Office for 12/21/06
Rank	Film	Number of Sites	Change from 12/13	Estimated Gross ($)	Cumulative Gross ($)
1	Rocky Balboa	2,752	n/a	6.2	6.2
2	The Pursuit of Happyness	2,852	n/a	2.9	35.2
3	Charlotte's Web	3,566	n/a	2.1	16.5
4	Eragon	3,020	n/a	1.8	28.5
5	The Holiday	2,614	+15%	1.3	28.7
6	Happy Feet	3,335	+58%	1.2	152.4
7	The Nativity Story	2,574	+50%	1.1	26.1
t-8	Blood Diamond	1,910	-5%	0.83	21.1
t-8	Apocalypto	2,465	-30%	0.83	30.8
10	Casino Royale	2,437	+6%	0.78	139.8

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