Fa la la la, fa la la la … No big surprise that Jim Carrey wins the box office again with his motion-captured performance as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, opening with $31 million.
Here is the top five this weekend at the box office:
1. NEW! A Christmas Carol (Buena Vista) – $31 mil; 3,683 theaters; $8,417 PT
2. Michael Jackson’s This Is It (Sony) – $14 mil; 3,481 theaters; $4,022 PT; $57.8 mil cume
3. NEW! The Men Who Stare at Goats (Overture Films) – $13.3 mil; 2,443 theaters; $5,448 PT
4. NEW! The Fourth Kind (Universal) – $12.5 mil; 2,527 theaters; $4,955 PT
5. Paranormal Activity (Paramount) – $8.6 mil; 2,558 theaters; $3,362 PT; $97.4 mil cume
Other newcomers, such as The Men Who Stare at Goats and The Fourth Kind, made it into the top five, while Cameron Diaz’s The Box came in sixth place with $7 million. Ouch for her.
This coming weekend is the big disaster thriller 2012 from director Roland Emmerich (of Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow fame), which should win easily. You’d think this would be more a summer movie, but Sony is actually sort of smart to release it now, without all that blockbuster-y competition. I’ve said it before and will say it again: LOVE disaster films. This one is right up my alley.