Laughter prevailed at this weekend's box office as Jim Carrey's latest comedy "Yes Man" had audiences pouring in enough to earn $18.2 million and the top spot ahead of Will Smith's drama "Seven Pounds."

After commercial failures like "Lemony Snicket A Series of Unfortunate Events," "The Number 23" and "Fun with Dick and Jane," Jim Carrey's successful comedy days are back, not so much his blockbuster moments, led by his $68 million opening in 2003's "Bruce Almighty," which totaled $242.8 million in domestic ticket sales. However, "Yes Man" has the advantage of what is likely to be an extended run through the holiday season.

A Jim Carrey comedy is hard to pass, despite bad weather and the last days of shopping before the holidays. "Yes Man" was the top moviegoers' choice for the pre-Christmas weekend, when overall ticket sales were about $88 million. Last year, ticket sales hit $161 million, when the Nicolas Cage thriller "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" opened with $44.8 million in ticket sales. Studio executives estimated that the weather cost them as much as 10% of their expected gross.

The comedy released by Warner Bros, also starring Zooey Deschanel, revolves around a jaded bank worker whose life takes a new turn when he decides to literally say "yes" to everything that comes his way, significantly improving his experiences.

Following closely behind with $16 million was the touching story of Ben Thomas, an IRS agent on a mission to redeem himself by helping seven random people, in "Seven Pounds."

The third national release, Mathew Broderick’s animated film "The Tale of Despereux," based on award winning children's novel of the same name about an intrepid little mouse, who prefers to read books instead of chewing them, and his quest to rescue princess Pea, took in $10.5 million for Universal Pictures.

Rounding up the top five were last week's top earner, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" starring Keanu Reeves as an alien trying to save human kind, which raked in $10.2 million, and Warner's 4-week-old, "Four Christmases," starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. The holiday movie surpassed the $100 million mark by adding $7.7 million in revenues this weekend.

Summit's "Twilight," based on the first book of Stephenie Meyer's vampire saga of the same name, maintained a strong position after five weeks, earning $5.2 million. The low-budget movie cost $37 million to make and has now made $158 million. Production for "New Moon," the upcoming movie of the franchise is scheduled to start early next year, with Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart reprising their roles as Edward Cullen and Bella Swan.

Disney's animated "Bolt" fell three spots to No. 7 this week, earning $4.2 million and a total of $95 million after five weeks, while critically acclaimed "Slumdog Millionaire" jumped up three spots to the 8th spot with $3.1 million.

The Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman-starrer, "Australia," settled into ninth place with $2.3 million and a total of $42 million, while Sony's "Quantum of Solace" rounded out the top ten with $2.1 million and a total gross of $161.3 million.