Despite his lavish music videos, Will Smith as an actor cannot fail to appeal to and attract a huge audience and over this weekend, he proved it once again. 'The Pursuit of Happyness' (yes, this is how they spelled it) was an instant hit at the public and joined the long line of #1 openings for the rapper/actor, along 'Independence Day', 'I, Robot' and 'Men in Black'.

Starring next to his son in a story about the everlasting American dream, Will Smith is the man who has to rearrange his entire life and bring it back to normal after he sees himself homeless. However, it was also Will's charisma that which brought so many people into theaters this weekend and not just the story, as good as it might be.

Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony, says that the ticket sales of $27 million over the first three days of release are all thanks to Smith's ability to make himself loved to the public. 'Audiences around the world love him. Everyone who sees Will Smith or meets Will Smith feels like he could be their best friend. He has that type of charisma that resonates throughout whatever room he's in', he said after box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations published the first estimates.

The fantasy animated story 'Eragon', based on the first of Christopher Paolini's books, failed to do as good as other CGI movies in the past and landed on the second spot, with $23.5 million worth of ticket sales. Despite disappointing sales of a little over $12 million, the third spot in the North American box-office went to sweet Dakota Fanning and her pig, with 'Charlotte's Web', also based on a classic novel, a movie mixing real life actors and computer animation.

'Happy Feet', the animated story of the little penguin that can dance but can't sing, still holds strong in the first five positions, cashing in $8.5 million, which brings it to a total of $149.4 million. Hot on its heels is the romantic comedy 'The Holiday', starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black, with ticket sales of $8.2 million.

Mel Gibson's latest directorial endeavor was the steepest fall this weekend, landing to number four after ruling over the North American box-office chart for just a single week. However, with ticket sales of $7.7 million this weekend, 'Apocalypto' grossed a total of $27.9 million in ten days since its release, which is a pretty good sum for such a low-budget movie.

Leonardo DiCaprio's 'Blood Diamond', 'Casino Royale', 'Nativity Story' and 'Unaccompanied Minors' round up the first ten positions in the box-office, over a weekend in which people showed more interest to last-minute Christmas shopping than going to the movies.