'Alexander': Fails conquer US box office

LOS ANGELES (US): Oliver Stone's much-hyped epic "Alexander" failed to conquer the North American box office last weekend, leaving adventure flick "National Treasure" to strike gold, figures showed Monday.

The story of the youthful Macedonian hero played by Irish heart-throb Colin Farrell failed to dazzle after critics heaped scorn on the three-hour historical extravaganza from the director of "JFK" and "Platoon."

The film limped into sixth place on its opening weekend, dealing a severe blow to the acclaimed filmmaker and the studio that had pinned its Christmas box office and Oscar hopes on the film.

Nicolas Cage's quest for treasure grossed another 45.6 million dollars over the US Thanksgiving five-day long weekend, assuring it poll position for the second straight week, box office-trackers Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. said.

"National Treasure" has raked in a total of 87.2 million dollars in its two weekends in release.

In second place over the five-day period was the animated super-hero adventure, "The Incredibles," which earned 32.8 million dollars.

The Disney-Pixar animated action spoof now has grossed a whopping total of 214.2 million dollars in North American ticket sales in four weeks in release.

Seasonal comedy "Christmas with the Kranks," starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, opened in third place, taking in 30.8 million dollars.

In fourth spot was the computer-animated "The Polar Express," which managed to take in another 26.4 million dollars, followed by "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie," another animated film, with 23.5 million dollars.

"Alexander," which reportedly cost more than 150 million dollars, came in sixth with 21.8 million dollars.

Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger landed seventh spot with "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason," taking in 8.5 million dollars.

The Peter Pan story, "Finding Neverland," starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslett, was eighth with 6.5 million dollars, while the Ray Charles biopic "Ray" was next with 5.1 million dollars.

Round off the weekly top 10 was Pierce Brosnan's crime caper, "After The Sunset," with 4.3 million dollars.●