“I am Legend” is the biggest December opening

Will Smith does it again. Hitting the top of the box office is no strange achievement for one of Hollywood’s most box office commanding actor around. Smith successes at the box office span the previous decade. There is sure to be no end in sight for the box office wonder Will Smith with yet another smash hit in which he plays the last man standing on earth. The Warner Bros. released saga entitled "I Am Legend," stars Smith who is also sort of the enitre only cast through out the film holding the majority of the on screen time for this 101 minute long film himself.

The storyline is 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." In "I Am Legend" Smith is a scientist searching a cure for a plague that is transforming the population at large into vampire-like creatures. Smith who is a lone survivor of a plague stricken world and becomes possible the last living human.

“I am Legend” is the biggest December opening to date. The lonely spot at the top of the heap came in at official takings of $76.5 million. This notably is another personal achievement for one of Hollywood's top box-office conquerors. "It's no wonder Will Smith feels so lonely. Everyone else on Earth is in the movie theater," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. The respectable second place went to 20th Century Fox family film "Alvin and the Chipmunks," starring Jason Lee in a big-screen take on the cartoon critters. "Forty-five million acorns," said Chris Aronson, senior vice president for distribution at 20th Century Fox. "Chipmunks are diurnal animals and they do hibernate, but not right now."

The weekend business at the box office was a resounding triumph all around with the top 12 movies taking in $153.6 million, up 39 percent from the same weekend a year earlier. Last years film favorite was another Smith lead film which also entered at No. 1 with a $26.5 million debut for "The Pursuit of Happyness." Third place hit film “The Golden Compass" which cost $180 million to produce has earned $90 million so far overseas while raking in $41 million domestically .

"I Am Legend" not too surprisingly has crushed Smith's previous film debut records by exceeding the $52.1 million opening weekends of "I, Robot" and "Men in Black II. ". "I Am Legend" out did the mighty $72.6 million premiere of 2003's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," the previous best December month film opening.
"It's nice to be in the Will Smith business," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros. "He is just the No. 1 box-office star in the world today."