Box office report for Nov. 9, 2009
“Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” Robert Zemeckis and Jim Carrey’s high-tech take on the Charles Dickens holiday classic, took in $31 million over the weekend to debut in the top spot at the box office.
Zemeckis shot the movie using the same performance-capture technology used on his 2004 holiday offering “The Polar Express.” Carrey and his co-stars acted on a bare soundstage as digital cameras captured their performances, with computer animators later adding costumes, sets, props and other effects.
“A Christmas Carol” came in ahead of “Polar Express,” which had an opening weekend of $23.5 million, according to the Associated Press. But it fell short of the $55.1 million opening for Carrey’s previous holiday tale, “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” in 2000.
But Christmas films tend to have strong legs and keep chugging along through the holiday season. After its modest start, “The Polar Express” went on to become a $160 million hit by the end of its run and has become a perennial holiday rerelease in IMAX theaters.
“A Christmas Carol” did three-fourths of its business in theaters showing 3-D versions. IMAX theaters, which represented only 5 percent of the theater count, accounted for $4.5 million, or 14.5 percent, of the movie’s total gross, according to the AP.
“A Christmas Carol” knocked the King of Pop out of the top spot as “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” slipped to No. 2 with $14 million.
Sony’s “This Is It,” featuring rehearsal performances Jackson shot before his death last June, raised its domestic total to $57.9 million. “This Is It” has taken in $186.5 million worldwide, according to the AP.
Several new releases hit theaters over the weekend, including Ewan McGregor and George Clooney’s comedy “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” which came in at No. 3 with $13.3 million. The comedy is a hilarious satiric look at U.S. military efforts to create “warrior monks” who could predict the future or walk through walls.
Opening in fourth place with $12.5 million was Universal’s “The Fourth Kind,” starring Milla Jovovich as a psychologist studying alien abductions in Alaska.
Cameron Diaz and Oklahoma native James Marsden’s sci-fi tale “The Box” opened at No. 6 with $7.9 million. The Warner Bros. thriller , which was not screened in advance for critics, centers on a couple given a mysterious box that can provide them $1 million, but at the cost of a stranger’s life.
Here are the top 10 movies over the weekend, according to the AP:
1. “Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” $31 million.
2. “Michael Jackson’s This Is It,” $14 million.
3. “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” $13.3 million.
4. “The Fourth Kind,” $12.5 million.
5. “Paranormal Activity,” $8.6 million.
6. “The Box,” $7.9 million.
7. “Couples Retreat,” $6.4 million.
8. “Law Abiding Citizen,” $6.2 million.
9. “Where the Wild Things Are,” $4.2 million.
10. “Astro Boy,” $2.6 million.
-BAM
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