Smith out on his own with record box-office opening

FOR the last man on Earth, Will Smith has a lot of friends.

The Warner Brothers film I Am Legend, starring Smith as a plague survivor who may be the last living human, debuted with $76.5 million (€52.3m), the biggest December opening ever and a personal best for one of Hollywood’s top box-office champs.

“It’s no wonder Will Smith feels so lonely. Everyone else on Earth is in the movie theatre,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

The 20th Century Fox family flick Alvin and the Chipmunks, starring Jason Lee in a big-screen take on the cartoon critters, came second with $45m (€31.2m).

“Forty-five million acorns,” said Chris Aronson, senior vice president for distribution at 20th Century Fox.

“Chipmunks are diurnal animals and hibernate, but not right now.”

Overall business soared, with the top 12 movies taking in $153.6m (€106.8m), up 39% from the same weekend a year earlier, when Smith also was number one with a $26.5m (€18.4m) debut for The Pursuit of Happyness.

The previous number one movie, New Line Cinema’s fantasy The Golden Compass, nose-dived in its second weekend, coming in third with $9m (€4.1m), down a dismal 65% from its less-than-expected $25.8m (€18m) debut a week earlier.

The Golden Compass, which cost $180m (€125m) to produce, has done $90m (€40m) so far overseas but has proven a dud domestically with just $41m (€28.5m).

On the other hand, I Am Legend smashed Smith’s personal debut record, easily exceeding the $52.1m (€36.2m) opening weekends of I, Robot and Men in Black II, his previous bests. I Am Legend outdid the $72.6m (€50.4m) premiere of 2003’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the previous best December opening.

Based on the Richard Matheson novel filmed twice before — as Vincent Price’s The Last Man on Earth and Charlton Heston’s The Omega Man — I Am Legend casts Smith as a scientist trying to find a cure for the vestiges of humanity, people transformed into vampire-like creatures.

The film opens in Irish cinemas this Friday.