Weekend Movie Earnings: Jan 2 - 4, 2009

The movie box office remained mostly the same this weekend as nine of the top ten movies found their way back in and the first seven ranking in the exact same order. That means the tear-enducing “Marley and Me” stayed top dog once again, beating out Sandler’s “Bedtime Stories” and Pitt’s “Benjamin Button” a second week in a row. All the movies picked up impressive mid-week earnings, shooting their box office totals way over since last weekend.

New comer to the top ten, “Slumdog Millionaire”, has proven the power of word of mouth for a movie as the independent film from Danny Boyle (”Sunshine”) clawed its way out of the Mumbai slums to catch spot number ten. Having just seen “Slumdog Millionaire” I could easily recommend it as a feel-good movie and yet another great showcase for Boyle’s work as a director. It won’t be playing in all theaters and those that have it will likely put it on one screen, their smallest. Ah well.

Domestic box office movie earnings this weekend, Jan 2 - 4, 2009:

1. “Marley and Me” $24.0 million [$106.5M total]
2. “Bedtime Stories” $20.3 million [$85.3M total]
3. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” $18.4 million [$79.0M total]
4. “Valkyrie” $14.0 million [$60.6M total]
5. “Yes Man” $13.8 million [$79.4M total]
6. “Seven Pounds” $10.0 million [$60.0M total]
7. “The Take of Despereaux” $7.0 million [$43.7M total]
8. “Doubt” $5.0 million [$18.7M total]
9. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” $4.8 million [$74.2M total]
10. “Slumdog Millionaire” $4.7 million [$28.7M total]