from IMDb
Nikki Finke brings us news of the weekend box office, as is her wont, and reports that candle-lit turn-of-the-century magician movie The Prestige took the number-one spot, thanks to a heavy promotional push and a trailer showing Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman playing high-stakes Harry Potter as Scarlett Johansson gasps and swoons in the bosom-heaving background (#2 was the Martin Scorsese dream-team drama The Departed; #3 was Clint Eastwood's historical drama about Iwo Jima, Flags Of Our Fathers). Fans of atmospheric period-piece magician movies* will note that Johansson, this year's Esquire Sexiest Woman Alive plays a similarly-be-bodiced female lead as the leading lady in this summer's The Illusionist — last year's Sexiest Woman Alive, Jessica Biel (who is still alive and, by all accounts, still sexy). Paul Giamatti is also in The Illusionist, though not, mercifully, in a bodice.
*Disclosure - we are not, and haven't seen either flick, though it has been anecdotally reported that The Prestige is very good and David Bowie is particularly noteworthy. Also noteworthy: Our fun name for the photo above: "Hey! I've got a great idea!"
