Twentieth Century Fox's "Marley & Me" remained on top at the box office, beginning the new year from where it left the previous one: on the number one spot. The movie is based on John Grogan's bestseller about his life with an impossible but adorable Labrador retriever and it took in an estimated $24.1 million in ticket sales over the weekend for a total box-office haul of $106.5 million over two weeks. The movie stars Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson and it marks Aniston's second consecutive $100 million-plus movie, following 2006's "The Break-Up," which finished with $118.7 million.
Adam Sandler's latest comedy “Bedtime Stories,” from Walt Disney Company, came in second, making $20.3milion this end of the week and a total of $85.4 million. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," from from Paramount Pictures, which earned $18.4 million, and a total of $79.0 million. As with "Marley & Me," they were both released on Christmas Day and have been hefty competing ever since.
"What's so great is you've got a movie that is so unique that has been embraced by audiences. It's off to a spectacular start and should have a great hold," Paramount vice chair Rob Moore said.
Tom Cruise's World War II thriller “Valkyrie,” from MGM, also continues its strong run, taking fourth place with $14 million and raising its total to $60 million. This film is definitely a surprise, making the $60 million in just 11 days, a better show than what other A-list political thrillers, such as "The Good Shepherd" or "Munich," have had on holidays past.
All four top titles saw minimal declines from the previous weekend. "Marley" fell 34%, "Bedtime" 26%, "Button" 31% and "Valkyrie" 33%.
Another holdover, the comedy “Yes Man” with Jim Carrey, from Warner Brothers, took in about $13.9 million, for a total of $79.4 million since opening.
A Christmas release that hasn't fared so well is Lionsgate's “The Spirit,” which was only able to round up another $3.3 million at the box office this weekend. After 11 days, Frank Miller's adaptation hasn't even hit the twenty-million mark yet. Well, at least the film did make for one great quote from Roger Ebert.
Weekend box-office receipts totaled $150 million, up 7.6% from a year earlier, evidence that moviegoers are still flocking to the theaters even in tough financial times, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media by Numbers. "The movie industry is totally holding its own in the face of the recession," said Dergarabedian.
However a number of the season’s potential Oscar contenders continued to jockey for position in a field packed with movies that have been released to a relatively limited number of theaters, such as Miramax's "Doubt" and Fox Searchlight's "Slumdog Millionaire." So keep your fingers crossed!
