History Still Rocks: National Treasure Sequel Tops Box Office!

Critics be damned. The people have spoken, and the sequel to National Treasure topped this weekend's list of box office treasures. The big earner, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, is the much anticipated sequel to 2004's National Treasure. Reuters is reporting that in its opening weekend, Book of Secrets earned $45.5 million dollars. The Nicholas Cage-headlining action film has neither drawn controversy nor is it targeted toward a narrow audience. The Disney film is made to draw youngsters, families, and anyone who wishes to escape to a fantasy world for a couple of hours. Though the film adds a good dose of fictional elements, the rough outlines of the stories are based at least somewhat on fact (i.e. the Civil War, Freemasonry) and perhaps encourage youngsters to go learn more about these true events. Reuters also reports that I am Legend placed at number 2 at the box office this weekend, taking in $34.2 million, and Alvin and the Chipmunks took in $29 million. Charlie Wilson's War came in at number 4, still ahead of P.S. I Love You. Earning the most money a Nicholas Cage film has previously garnered in such a rapid amount of time is 2004's National Treasure. It is estimated that the first film took in $173 million in the U.S., and a similar amount abroad.