It’s a busy weekend at the box office, with the top three films grossing an average of $32M. National Treasure, the new collaboration between Nicholas Cage and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, tops the charts with $35.3M for the Nov 19-21 weekend. This is Cage’s best opening ever, besting debuts from his previous Bruckheimer collaborations - Gone in 60 Seconds, Con Air, and The Rock (each of which opened with about $25M). Cage hasn’t had a box office hit of this magnitude since 2000’s Gone in 60 Seconds, which just goes to show that a Cage/Bruckheimer production will always result in a bona fide box office hit. On the critical front, it’s a different story. It has a Tomatometer of only 41% - Rotten, but not too bad for an action movie.

Not far behind is Paramount’s latest Nickelodean entry The Spongebob Squarepants Movie. It grossed a very spongy $33.5M. This figure betters previous Nickelodean debuts – The Rugrats Movie ($27.3M) and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius ($13.8M). The Spongebob Squarepants Movie also did surprisingly well with critics, receiving a Fresh 71% on the Tomatometer. Critics think the film is surreally goofy and entertaining for both children and their parents.

With all this activity from new entries this weekend, The Incredibles, which ruled the box office for the last two weekends, experienced a 47% dropoff from last weekend. It grossed $26.8M, still good enough for third. Its total now stands at $177.8M, a little behind Finding Nemo’s third weekend total at $191.5M.

In 4th place is The Polar Express, which held up surprisingly well with $15.2M – only a 33% dropoff from last weekend. The Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis collaboration has a cumulative gross of $51M so far.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason opened wider this weekend and saw its numbers improved slightly over last weekend’s. It grossed $10.1M and placed 5th. Its total gross so far is $21.6M. Critics didn’t care for the sequel, which has a Tomatometer reading of 29% (compared to 78% for the original). It looks unlikely to have the legs to carry it anywhere close to the original’s total box office take of $71M.

Rounding out the top ten are After the Sunset ($5.3M), Ray ($4.6M), The Grudge ($3.8M), Seed of Chucky ($3.1M), and Saw ($3M). The Grudge crossed the $100M mark during last week.

Box Office Estimates for Weekend of Nov. 19-21, 2004
1. National Treasure $35.3M
2. The Spongebob Squarepants Movie $33.5M
3. The Incredible $26.8M
4. The Polar Express $15.2M
5. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason $10.1M
6. After the Sunset $5.3M
7. Ray $4.6M
8. The Grudge $3.8M
9. Seed of Chucky $3.1M
10. Saw $3.0M

Click here to view full chart.