'Earth' spins Keanu Reeves to No. 1 at box office

Keanu Reeves, an actor known for his offbeat movie choices, added another unlikely box office hit to his collection yesterday with The Day the Earth Stood Still, a chart-topping remake of a 1951 sci-fi movie.

The film, largely ridiculed by critics, sold an estimated $31 million worth of tickets in the United States and Canada since opening on Friday, distributor 20th Century Fox said.

The three-day sum was in line with forecasts. The film cost about $80 million to make, said the News Corp unit.

It marks Reeves’s biggest opening since 2003’s The Matrix Revolutions, the third film in the blockbuster Matrix franchise, kicked off with $48 million on its way to $139 million. Since then, he has starred in a series of art-house pictures (2005’s Thumbsucker) and middling studio pictures (2006’s The Lake House).

Reeves, 44, plays the alien Klaatu, who comes to save Earth from itself. The film co-stars Jennifer Connelly. Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) directed.

“It’s an environmental as well as a political statement,” said Chris Aronson, Fox’s senior vice president of domestic distribution.

Earth also earned about $39 million in international markets, Mr Fox said.

After two weeks at No. 1, the holiday comedy Four Christmases slipped to No. 2 with $13.3 million, taking its total to $88 million. The film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc.

Rounding out the top five were the vampire romance Twilight at No. 3 with $8.0 million, the canine cartoon Bolt at No. 4 with $7.5 million, and the period drama Australia with $4.3 million.