'Museum' spends more nights at No. 1

This undated image provided by 20th Century Fox shows Ben Stiller, left, and Robin Williams in a scene from their movie 'Night at the Museum.' The film was the top box office draw during the New Year's weekend with $37.8 million, a 24 percent jump over its debut the previous week, according to studio estimates released Sunday, Dec. 31, 2006. [AP]

Ben Stiller's playful "Night at the Museum" was the top box office draw during the New Year's weekend with $37.8 million, a 24 percent jump over its debut the previous week, according to studio estimates released Sunday.

Uplifting movies dominated the Top 10 for the holiday weekend, a busy period at turnstiles.

Will Smith's "The Pursuit of Happyness" took second place with $19.3 million, up 30 percent, while the musical "Dreamgirls" finished third with $15.5 million.

"The Pursuit of Happyness" was expected to cross the $100 million threshold on New Year's Day.

No. 4 "Charlotte's Web" was up 59 percent with $12 million in its third week. "Rocky Balboa" was in fifth place with $11.4 million.

No new movies went into wide release.

"Dreamgirls" saw a major surge in business, averaging a whopping $18,192 per screen as Paramount rolled it out slowly with word-of-mouth creating a buzz. It was showing on just 852 screens, compared to 3,768 for "Night at the Museum."

"Dreamgirls," the first musical sensation since "Chicago" in 2002, will expand to about 1,800 screens on Jan. 12.

"We knew it was a movie that was a real crowd-pleaser," said Rob Moore, Paramount's president of marketing and distribution. "The amazing word of mouth is bringing it along. It's been a while since a musical really worked."

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

1. "Night at the Museum," $37.8 million.

2. "The Pursuit of Happyness," $19.3 million.

3. "Dreamgirls," $15.5 million.

4. "Charlotte's Web," $12 million

5. "Rocky Balboa," $11.4 million.

6. "The Good Shepherd," $11.2 million.

7. "Eragon," $8.5 million.

8. "We Are Marshall," $8 million.

9. "Happy Feet," $7.8 million.

10. "The Holiday," $6.7 million.

Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Vivendi Universal; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news).; DreamWorks, Paramount and Paramount Vantage are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros., New Line, Warner Independent and Picturehouse are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lionsgate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.