Paramount reigned supreme at the North American box office as its animated adventure tale Beowulf seized the number one spot in its opening weekend while the studio's other toon Bee Movie finished in second place in its third frame. But the overall marketplace remained troubled posting ticket sales that were more like October numbers than like the typically robust figures seen in November. In fact, the top ten films combined for just over $92M making it the worst showing in nine years for the weekend before Thanksgiving.

The 3D computer-animated actioner Beowulf collected an estimated $28.1M over the Friday-to-Sunday period becoming the top choice of movie fans this weekend. Attacking 3,153 theaters, the PG-13 film averaged a strong $8,912 per location for Paramount which scored its seventh number one hit of 2007. The Robert Zemeckis-directed picture used motion capture technology to tell the story of a Viking warrior who saves a kingdom from demonic beasts. Ray Winstone and Angelina Jolie contributed their voices and likenesses. Reviews were generally favorable.

Beowulf was the widest opener ever for a 3D film with over 700 of the venues offering the adventure in the high-tech format. The Real D format accounted for 638 of the locations (20% of the total) and roughly $8M (28%) of the weekend gross. Several dozen Imax sites also played the 3D version while traditional theaters played the 2D one. According to studio research the audience was 60% male and was split evenly between those over and under the age of 25.

Warner Bros. co-financed the $150M project and opened Beowulf in several international territories day-and-date with the domestic bow. The ancient epic grossed an estimated $17M overseas from 2,500 screens in 13 markets for a global opening of $45.1M. It enjoyed solid second-place debuts in the United Kingdom and Germany and rang up number one bows in many Asian markets like Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore. Beowulf invades France, Russia, Spain, and Mexico later this week and attacks Australia, Brazil, and Japan on the following weekend.

Paramount also claimed the silver medal with another toon, the Jerry Seinfeld hit Bee Movie, which dropped 44% to an estimated $14.3M in its third outing. After 17 days of release, the PG-rated kidpic has amassed $93.9M from just under 4,000 theaters and could be headed for $130-140M by the end of its domestic run.

The one-two punch of Beowulf and Bee marked the first time in three years that animated films occupied the top two positions at the box office. The last occurrence was over the November 12-14, 2004 frame when The Incredibles remained number one with a mighty $50.3M in its sophomore session and Zemeckis' The Polar Express opened in second with $23.3M. Only two other times this year has one studio claimed the top two films. Warner Bros. ruled the March 23-25 weekend with TMNT and 300 while a few weeks later Paramount reigned with Disturbia and Blades of Glory.

Despite the studio's killer B's leading the box office, the overall marketplace was in bad shape which does not bode well for the end of what has been a record year. The top ten films have now failed to break the $100M mark over back-to-back weekends during the normally busy month of November. This has not occurred during this month since 2000. Also, the weekend before Thanksgiving is routinely used by Hollywood studios to launch some of their biggest holiday season blockbusters. Beowulf generated the worst opening for a number one film over this high-profile frame in nine years. Clearly the box office is lacking strength right now and moviegoers are losing excitement over the current menu of films that studios have served up. To make things worse, the next two weekends lack any film expected to see explosive sales.

American Gangster shot up another $13.2M in ticket stubs, according to estimates, and raised its 17-day cume to $101M. Off 45%, the Denzel Washington-Russell Crowe hit became the 21st film of 2007 to break the century mark and the fifth for Universal which leads all studios. Warner Bros, Fox, Buena Vista, and Sony have all claimed three such blockbusters each this year with Paramount close to joining them when Bee Movie crosses the barrier later this week. Gangster should head towards $130-140M domestically.

In Europe, the Ridley Scott-helmed crime saga began generating heat with number one openings in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Belgium, Portugal, and Switzerland for an international weekend haul of $14M from 1,471 theaters in 14 markets. In the U.K., Gangster went head to head against the debut of Beowulf and beat it by 13%.