The Golden Compass Scores Gold at Domestic Box Office

Boasting starry cast, impressive special effects, and adventurous story, New Line Cinema's "The Golden Compass" found its way to go straight to the top place of weekend U.S. Box office after opening at $25.8 million on Friday, December 7, 2007.

The number the fantasy flick raked in, however, was way below expectation as the studio had hoped the movie to collect between $30 million and $40 million during its first three days. Pic, on the other hand, hit big in international market, doubling its U.S. takings by drawing in $51 million from 25 overseas territories.

Second rank was secured by Walt Disney Pictures' fairy-tale romance "Enchanted" which this time collected $10.7 million to raise its total gross to $83.9 million so far. Holiday comedies "This Christmas" and "Fred Claus" came up next with respective income of $4.96 million and $4.61 million followed by CGI epic "Beowulf" that fared moderately well at $4.54 million.

On the sixth rank, there seated awards-winning "No Country for Old Men" for its decent effort to add $4.12 million into its pocket, a tally Kirsten Sheridan-directed "August Rush" failed to beat as it only pulled in a fair $3.51 million. R-rated flick "Hitman" trailed close behind at $3.49 million with thriller "Awake" and animated "Bee Movie" rounding out the top ten of the list, the former garnering $3.33 million while the latter $2.63 million.

Check out the rest rank-holders up to the twentieth on U.S. Box Office page at AceShowbiz.