Cage, with box-office disasters such as Matchstick Men, Windtalkers and Captain Corelli's Mandolin, now has his first hit in four years, following The Family Man.
The movie is Cage's fourth collaboration with producer Jerry Bruckheimer after Gone In 60 Seconds, Con Air and The Rock, and centres around a plot to steal the Declaration of Independence in the hope that it has the clues to a colossal fortune stashed by the Founding Fathers. Unlike Bruckheimer-action flicks aimed at the adult-male crowd, National Treasure has a family friendly PG rating.
Cage wasn't the only one whose fortunes went up over the weekend.
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Animated adventure The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie, which received mostly strong reviews, ended the famine for Paramount Pictures by grossing $33 million for second place at the box-office.
Paramount has suffered over half a dozen disappointments, and utter flops including Alfie, in the last six months. Given the strong opening, the SpongeBob film is bound to cross the $100 million benchmark with a far bigger gross awaiting in video and DVD sales.
Third and fourth positions on the charts also belonged to kid movies. The Incredibles lost a big chunk of the audiences mainly because of SpongeBob, but its $26.7 million gross was good enough to boost its overall take to $178 million in about three weeks.
Polar Express, which has grossed $50 million in two weeks, may eventually see its final gross reaching $110 million to $120 million but unless it does far superior business abroad, and has a bigger ancillary business worldwide, the $165 million plus film could lose heavily.
At eighth position, horror film The Grudge, made for less than $10 million, has reached $104 million. It is fading fast but there will still be money to be made from theaters in the next few weeks.
Low budget suspense film, Saw, a British import, was the last film on the top 10 charts, two notches below The Grudge. With a $50 million gross in North America, and a hit in Britain already, the film is on its way to become one of the most profitable films of the year.
Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday will lead to one of the most lucrative weeks for movies in North America. All family oriented films are expected to get the big boost on the Turkey Day. Two films are aiming at an early start by opening on Wednesday: the three-hour period epic Alexander directed by Oliver Stone, and the comedy Christmas With The Kranks.
Box office estimates for North America, November 19-21
| Rank | Film | Weekend gross | Total gross | Number of weeks |
| 1 | National Treasure | $35 million | $35m | New |
| 2 | The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie |
$33.5 million |
$33.5m | New |
| 3 | The Incredibles | $26.7 million (down 47%) | $178m | 3 |
| 4 | Polar Express | $15 million (down 34.8%) | $50m | 2 |
| 5 | Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason | $10 million (up 16%) | $21.5m | 2 |
| 6 | After The Sunset | $5.2 million (down 53%) | $19m | 2 |
| 7 | Ray | $4.5 million (down 46%) | $59m | 4 |
| 8 | The Grudge | $3.8 million (down 46%) | $104m | 5 |
| 9 | Seed of Chucky | $3.2 million (down 64%) | $13m | 2 |
| 10 | Saw | $3 million (down 53%) | $50m | 4 |