The Little Penguin Who Killed Bond, James Bond

The new Bond got raving reviews in the United Kingdom, where it premiered last week, but a non-Pierce Brosnan super spy did not convince the American audience. Daniel Craig is, after all, a newcomer and this immediately showed at the box-office. Plus, there was no Halle Berry superchick in the latest installment of the franchise to attract audiences.

Thus, after doing more than well in the UK and other small markets like India, Bond took a beating in the US and the ass-kicker was, this time, not some international terrorist, with state-of-the-art technology, but a dancing penguin who can't sing.

The Australian import 'Happy Feet' rushed past Bond at the box-office and settled at the number one spot, with ticket sales of $42.3 million over the weekend. With a budget of an estimated $100 million and featuring the voices of Robin Williams, Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, the cute penguin proved quite a hit for Warner Bros., although it did not manage to top the performances of 'The Incredibles' or 'Cars' from Pixar.

So, Daniel Craig and the latest Bond adventure had to settle for the second spot at the box-office, having been beaten by the mighty penguin. However, 'Casino Royale' still did better than expected (considering the huge change that it implied both in terms of the leading man and the way the story is told), grossing an estimated $40.6 million. To no one's surprise, 'Casino' proved unable to match Brosnan's performance in the 2002 'Die Another Day' ($47 million in the opening weekend).

The leader of the box-office for two consecutive weeks, 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan' fell big time to a distant third place. The farcical comedy dropped 49% since last week, with ticket sales estimated at $14.4 million. But the overall result can only make the big bosses at Fox pretty happy, as Baron Cohen's sense of humor brought in for the studio the whopping sum of $90.5 million in just 17 days. And that's just the beginning by the look of things!
Other droppers this weekend were Disney's 'The Santa Clause 3' ($8.2 million) and the animated comedy 'Flushed Away' ($6.8 million). The Will Ferrel comedy 'Stranger than Fiction' also fell, landing on the sixth position, with $6.6 million in ticket sales. The rest of the box-office chart is occupied by 'Babel', 'Saw III', 'The Departed' and 'The Queen'.