By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The last man on Earth was first at the weekend box office in North America as Will Smith's sci-fi thriller "I Am Legend" crushed the competition with a record opening, distributor Warner Bros. said on Sunday.

The film brought in $76.5 million and was the seventh consecutive chart-topper for the versatile Smith. It combined with a surprisingly strong $45 million debut for "Alvin and the Chipmunks" to end the box office's five-week losing streak, even as severe winter storms across the Midwest and Northeast hurt ticket sales.

"I Am Legend" ranks as the best December opening of all time, beating the $72.6 million start for "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" in 2003, the Time Warner Inc-owned studio said. The studio said it had hoped for an opening in the mid-$40 million range.

Smith plays a military virologist who has survived a human-made virus that apparently killed everyone else on the planet. Music video veteran Francis Lawrence directed the film, working from an adaptation of a novel by Richard Matheson.

The film also earned $20 million from eight Asian markets, opening at No. 1 in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, India, Indonesia and India, and at No. 2 in Hong Kong, Warner Bros. said.

"Alvin and the Chipmunks" squealed its way to No. 2 with $45 million, more than doubling the expectations of its distributor, Twentieth Century Fox.

The film combines real actors, led by Jason Lee, with animated renderings of Alvin, Simon and Theodore, the beloved helium-voiced singing trio. The News Corp-owned studio said the film played strongly with family audiences, as expected, but also drew plenty of young-adult viewers.

OVERALL SALES UP

Overall ticket sales rose 36 percent from the same period last year to $163 million, according to tracking firm Media By Numbers. Sales for the year stand at almost $9 billion, a 5 percent boost from last year, thanks solely to higher ticket prices. Late-fall sales have been soft as films such as last week's No. 1 "The Golden Compass" and a slew of serious fare like Tom Cruise's "Lions for Lambs" failed to connect with moviegoers.

"The Golden Compass" fell to No. 3 with just $9 million, losing about two-thirds of its opening-weekend audience, one of the biggest slides of the year. In recent weeks, chart leaders have fallen between 40 percent and 50 percent in their second rounds.

New Line Cinema's $180 million family fantasy, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, has earned $41 million to date. The struggling Time Warner-owned studio had hoped the film would be the first in a franchise based on British author Philip Pullman's acclaimed children's series "His Dark Materials."

It is doing better overseas but New Line sold the foreign distribution rights to help cover the movie's cost.

Also new was the urban-themed holiday comedy "The Perfect Holiday" at No. 6 with almost $3 million. The movie, from closely held Yari Film Group, has earned $3.6 million since opening on Wednesday.

Three days after it scored a leading seven nominations for the Golden Globe Awards, the World War Two-era drama "Atonement" jumped six places to No. 9 with $1.85 million in its second weekend of limited release. James McAvoy and Keira Knightley picked up nominations for playing lovers torn apart by a family lie and the conflict in Europe.

The film was released by Focus Features, a unit of General Electric Co's NBC Universal.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
© Copyright 2007 Reuters.

Photo:
Actor Will Smith poses at a news conference to promote his film "I Am Legend" in Tokyo, December 4, 2007. The film took first place at the weekend box office in North America. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon