'Enchanted' still charms with $17 million

"After the strength of the summer, we expected the fall would follow suit, and it just hasn't done that," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "It's a good crop of films, but the marketplace just has not been able to rise above the levels we were hitting last year at this time."

The weekend's only new wide release, the Weinstein Co. and MGM thriller "Awake," opened in fourth-place with $6 million. "Awake" stars Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba and Terrence Howard in a tale about a man who is conscious during heart surgery and overhears his wife's plot to kill him.

In limited release, the acclaimed comic drama "The Savages" debuted strongly with $153,121 in four New York City and Los Angeles theaters, averaging $38,280 a cinema, compared to a $3,002 average in 2,002 theaters for "Awake."

Released by Fox Searchlight, "The Savages" stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney as estranged siblings forced back together to care for their ailing father. The film expands to more cities Dec. 21.

Also opening solidly was Miramax's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," which took in $75,300 in three theaters for a $25,100 average. The film stars Mathieu Amalric in the real-life story of French Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who had a paralyzing stroke and wrote a memoir of his experiences by dictating the book with blinks of his eye.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Enchanted," $17 million.

2. "This Christmas," $8.4 million.

3. "Beowulf," $7.9 million.

4. "Awake," $6 million.

5. "Hitman," $5.8 million.

6. "Fred Claus," $5.6 million.

7. "August Rush," $5.2 million.

8. "No Country for Old Men," $4.5 million.

9. "Bee Movie," $4.47 million.

10. "American Gangster," $4.3 million.