Jim Carrey’s “Yes Man,” took over the top spot of the weekend box office for the weekend of December 19-21 with a take of more than $18M, placing it ahead of other weekend debuts including Will Smith’s “Seven Pounds,” and the animated “The Tale Of Despereaux,” featuring Matthew Broderick.
Below are the top 10 Box Office totals for the weekend of December 19-21, 2008 according to Nielsen EDI.

Rank
Title
Studio
Weekend Gross
Gross

1
YES MAN
WARNER BROS.
$18,262,471
$18,262,471

2
SEVEN POUNDS
SONY PICTURES
$14,851,136
$14,851,136

3
THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX
UNIVERSAL
$10,103,675
$10,103,675

4
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
$48,366,989
$9,890,105

5
FOUR CHRISTMASES
WARNER BROS.
$100,110,827
$7,701,375

6
TWILIGHT
SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT
$158,423,218
$5,189,319

7
BOLT
WALT DISNEY STUDIOS
$94,900,059
$4,146,856

8
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
FOX SEARCHLIGHT
$12,037,510
$3,053,760

9
AUSTRALIA
TWENTIETH CENTURY …

In the U.S., high definition TV penetration has climbed steadily in the last year.  In December 2007, 13.5% of U.S. households HD TV sets — by this November that percentage had grown to 23.3%.
Who are these HD TV adopters?  According to a new study released Monday by Nielsen PreView, these HD equipped homes tend to be upscale, college educated, and have younger heads of household.  Sixty percent of HD homes also own DVR machines — compared to 24% of all homes in Nielsen’s National People Meter sample.  Nielsen Preview also …

How might the media and marketing landscape change next year?  In his latest Ad Age column, Pete Blackshaw, Nielsen Online Executive Vice President, ventures a few predictions.
1. Consumers Go On Social Media “Diets”
“[In 2008] we impulsively adopted everything from hastily assembled Facebook friends and Twitter followers to groups, apps and widgets, yet rarely revisited them.  In 2009, less may well become the new more,” Blackshaw notes.

2. Marketers Return To Media Basics
“TV will remain a focus because viewership in aggregate is actually going up, so continuing to understand how social media extends and …

When it comes to holiday baking, consumers in the northern U.S. reach for baking supplies — like readymade frosting, cake decorations, chocolate chips, and food coloring, while southerners prefer to stick to the basics: flour and sugar.
Last November and December, supermarket shoppers in northern markets like Hartford and New Haven, Conn. and Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y. spent almost one-third more, percentage-wise, on baking supplies than average American consumers, Nielsen reports.
During the same period, shoppers in southern markets like Birmingham, Ala. and Memphis dominated sales of flour, spending 106% and 78% more, respectively, than average Americans.
Consumers in Memphis and Birmingham also dominated sales …

According to Nielsen, discretionary shopping trips continued to decline dramatically in November, as consumers shifted purchases online and to value-oriented retailers.
Overall in November, trips to retailers declined by 2.9% from the previous year.
Retail Channel Trends
Toy stores, electronics stores, and department stores saw the most dramatic declines in the number of shopping trips last month vs. a year ago.  Trips to toy stores dropped by 23%, trips to electronics stores were down by 21%, and trips to department stores fell by 17%, Nielsen reported.
Retail channels offering low prices and strong value …

The penetration of U.S. households completely unready for the transition to digital television dropped from 7.4% in November to 6.8% in December, Nielsen reported Friday.
Non-Hispanic households continue to be more ready for the transition than Hispanic households, but the rate of Hispanic readiness is picking up. After seeing no change in unready Hispanic households from October to November, that percentage dropped from 12.4% to 11.5% in December.

NFL games airing in primetime are breaking records this season, and they share one common denominator: the Dallas Cowboys.
First it was the thrilling September 15th matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.  The Cowboys prevailed in a 41-37 shootout watched by 18.6 million viewers, the most ever for a cable program.

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
William P. Young’s ”The Shack” was the top-selling fiction book through November 30.
Among non-fiction books, “A New Earth,” by Eckhart Tolle was the top-seller.
The audio version of Tolle’s “A New Earth” was the top-selling audio book of the year.

Which charitable causes did American households give donations to during the past year?
According to Scarborough Research, that may depend on which city you live in.  The firm’s research found that the percentage of households contributing to specific types of causes differed from city to city. 
Below, Scarborough ranks the top U.S. cities, by percent of households that contributed to a wide range of organizations — political, religious, arts/cultural, healthcare/medical, and social care/welfare — during the past year.

Nearly one-fourth (24%) of online shoppers have spent more than $500 so far this holiday season, with 22% spending between $100-199 online, Nielsen reported Thursday. 
Most online shoppers surveyed by Nielsen (78%) cited the Web’s round-the-clock convenience as their primary reason for shopping online.
A majority of consumers made purchases from online retailers they already knew and trusted — 62% told Nielsen they ordered products from retailers they had shopped with in the past.  Search engines were also a popular way to find online retailers (38% of respondents), followed by offline catalogs (31% of respondents).  
In …