Children of Men: with Open Captions News

Fox's family adventure "Night at the Museum" and Sony's inspirational drama "The Pursuit of Happyness" continued to prove a potent one-two punch at the B.O. in the first frame of 2007. Pics finished in the top two spots, respectively, for the third straight frame as "Museum" painted in another $24 million, and "Happyness" smiled with $13 million. PG-rated "Museum," starring Ben Stiller, has taken in $164 million. Will Smith vehicle "Happyness" has grossed $124 million. Pic bowed at No. 1 a month ago.

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After an impressive limited run, will Universal's gritty, dystopian sci-fi thriller "Children of Men" cross over in its expansion? Booked in 16 locations over New Year's, the Alfonso Cuaron-helmed film played to almost $44,000 per engagement; now it widens to more than 1,200. Aiming for more general audiences will be PG-13 pics "Code Name: The Cleaner" (New Line) and "Freedom Writers" (Paramount), as well as Lionsgate's CG-animated "Happily N'Ever After."

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Chiwetel Ejiofor has been set to star in the Alfonso Cuaron-directed "Children of Men," as well as the Michael Almereyda-helmed indie "Tonight at Noon." Ejiofor, who just starred with Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster in the Spike Lee-directed "Inside Man," first joins Owen and Julianne Moore in the futuristic "Children of Men." He plays the leader of a radical political faction bent on controlling the future of the human race; the movie is based on the P.D. James novel. He'll then join Connie Nielsen, Lauren Ambrose and Rutger Hauer in "Tonight at Noon." Ejiofor plays two characters in an Almereyda-scripted movie about New Yorkers who experience random encounters that define their lives.

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