Stiller, Smith achieve box office milestones

LOS ANGELES, Jan 1 (Reuters) Ben Stiller led the North American box office for a second weekend with ''Night at the Museum,'' while Will Smith began 2007 on a good note as he logged his tenth 100 million dollars movie.

According to studio estimates issued today, ''Night at the Museum'' earned 46.7 million dollars during the four days beginning on December 29. After 11 days, the family comedy has earned 125.8 million dollars.

Stiller plays a security guard at a museum where the exhibits -- such as dinosaurs and Roman armies -- come to life at night. The family comedy, released by News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox, is based on a 32-page illustrated book by Milan Trenc.

Smith's former chart-topper ''The Pursuit of Happyness'' followed at No. 2 for a second weekend with 24.7 million dollars.

After three weekends, its total stands at 103.7 million dollars. The acclaimed rags-to-riches tale was released by Sony Corp.'s Columbia Pictures, which has handled five of Smith's 100 million dollars movies.

''Dreamgirls,'' a musical loosely based on the story of Motown hitmakers the Supremes, jumped four places to No. 3 with a four-day sum of 18.7 million dollars. The total for the Paramount Pictures film stands at 41.6 million dollars after just eight days in national release.

The movie widened to 852 theaters on Christmas day after a week of special engagements in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It will expand to about 1,800 theaters on Jan. 12, three days before the Golden Globe Awards where it will compete for five trophies. (By contrast, ''Museum'' and ''Happyness'' are playing in 3,768 theaters and 2,870 theaters respectively.) Paramount's family movie ''Charlotte's Web'' rose one place to No. 4 with 15.1 million dollars. The adaptation of the E.B. White barnyard tale has earned 55.9 million dollars after three weekends.

Paramount is a unit of Viacom Inc.

''The Good Shepherd,'' a spy drama directed by Robert De Niro, slipped one place to No. 5 with 14.3 million dollars. The film, which stars Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, has earned .3 million after two weeks. It was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal.

Rounding out the top-10 were Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's ''Rocky Balboa'' with 13.7 million dollars, Fox's ''Eragon'' with 10.6 million dollars the Warner Bros. Pictures pair of ''We Are Marshall'' with 10.2 million dollars and ''Happy Feet'' with 9.7 million dollars, and Columbia's ''The Holiday'' with 8.5 million dollars. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is closely held; Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc.

Reuters DH VP0120