Enchanted is still magic at the US box office

It seemed appropriate that the only big new release to hit the US box office charts this week should be a thriller about someone under anaesthetic, starring Hayden Christensen, who regularly puts audiences to sleep. And it’s traditional for the stateside movie-going habits to slip into something of a coma in the post-Thanksgiving lull.

More on Awake in a moment, but there was decent news for Disney princess comedy Enchanted, which managed to cling to the top of the charts, adding $17 million this week and seeing its royal coffers swell to $70.6 million. Also staying put was This Christmas, which nabbed $8.4 million for a running total of $36.9 million. Finally, Beowulf stayed in third, scraping up $7.8 million for a current haul of $68.6 million.

Slumbering into fourth, Awake could only rouse $6 million from audiences, despite the appeal of Jessica Alba in a variety of underwear. That meant that, remarkably, Hitman seemed able to hang on fairly decently – stronger than anticipated given the dodgy word of mouth – but still dropped 56% to take in $5.8 million in its second week.

Fred Claus and August Rush stayed exactly where they were in sixth and seventh respectively, with Claus taking home $5.5 million and Rush tuning up $5.1 million. At eighth, the Coen brothers’ gritty No Country For Old Men continued to win more fans despite showing in the smallest number of cinemas out of the entire top 10. It’s taken $23 million so far.

And so a voyage to the bottom of the charts, where we locate Bee Movie at ninth with $4.2 million and American Gangster bringing up the rear with $4.2 million.