Holdovers Bury 'treasure'

Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, industry expectations were running high as several strong holdovers — and five new wide releases that appealed to a broad range of demographics — were hoping to take the boxoffice to record heights. But in the aftermath, there was precious little to be thankful for regarding the performance of those films as the majority of the debuts proved mediocre to depressing.

Most of what magic there was at the boxoffice this Thanksgiving weekend — only the fourth-biggest ever recorded for the holiday — was conjured up by Warner Bros. Pictures' "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" as the fantasy-adventure film levitated back into the top spot after a one-week absence.

"Chamber" pulled in an estimated $32.2 million during the three days, beating MGM's James Bond installment "Die Another Day," which debuted in the top spot a week earlier. "Chamber" slipped a mild 24% in its third frame as its 17-day total vaulted to an estimated $200.2 million. The film took only two days longer than the first "Harry Potter" film to reach $200 million.

"Die" moved into the No. 2 spot with a three-day estimate of $31 million, off a modest 34% from its opening. The film soared past the $100 million mark in 10 days as its cume reached an estimated $101.6 million. Internationally, Agent 007 continued to break records and pulled in an estimated $30 million from 10 markets, upping its overseas total to about $60 million.

In the battle of the five-day holiday grosses, "Die" bested "Chamber" by a slim margin with an estimated $46.3 million versus $45.8 million, respectively.

Buena Vista's "The Santa Clause 2" caught on with holiday audiences in a big way as the Tim Allen starrer surged 20% in its fifth session, taking in an estimated $12.3 million and upping its total to about $113.9 million. The surge is all the more impressive considering it was in 725 fewer theaters than last weekend and there was considerable competition for the family demographic.

Heading into the weekend, "Santa's" biggest competition for the family audience besides "Chamber" was thought to be the Walt Disney Co.'s "Treasure Planet," the latest $100 million-plus animated feature from Buena Vista. But the film's boxoffice treasure proved to be lead instead of gold as it placed fourth with a disappointing three-day estimate of $11.9 million and has dug up $16.5 million since its release Wednesday — the worst opening in recent history for a major Disney animated release.

The "Treasure" debut falls in line with the infamous opening of 20th Century Fox's "Titan A.E.," which took in $9.7 million its first weekend, and Sony's "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within," which opened to $11.4 million. Both films were animated sci-fi adventures.