U.S. Box office earnings for the first weekend of the new year reached $123.2 million – down 28% from the prior weekend ($169.9 million), but up 10% compared to the same weekend a year ago ($112.5 million), Nielsen reported Monday.
Twentieth Century Fox’s “Marley & Me” remained in the top spot for the second weekend running, with earnings of almost $24.3 million between Jan. 2 and 4.
Walt Disney Studios’ ”Bedtime Stories” claimed second place, with earnings of $20.5 million, and Paramount’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” rounded out the top three, with an $18.7 million box office …

U.S. Box office earnings over the weekend following the Christmas holiday reached $169.9 million – up 120% over the prior weekend ($77.4 million), but down by 27% compared to the same weekend a year ago ($232.9 million), Nielsen reported Monday.
Twentieth Century Fox’s “Marley & Me” took over the top spot, with earnings of almost $36.5 million between Dec. 26 and 28.  Last weekend’s number one movie, Warner’s Brothers’ “Yes Man,” fell to fifth place — though its weekend gross fell only slightly: from $18.2 million during the weekend of Dec. 19-21, …

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 …

The Warner Bros.’ seasonal comedy “Four Christmases” topped the weekend Box Office for the second week in a row,  taking in an estimated $16.8 million in Friday-Sunday grosses.
Summit Entertainment’s vampire film “Twilight” took in an estimated $13 million to reclaim second place from Disney’s CG-animated feature “Bolt”, which earned an estimated $9.7 million to finish third.
Below are Box Office totals for the weekend of December 5-7, 2008, from Nielsen EDI.

RANK
FILM
STUDIO
WEEKEND
GROSS
(MILLIONS)

1
Four Christmases
WARNER BROS.
$16,755,478
$69.4

2
Twilight
SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT
$13,046,722
$138.4

3
Bolt
WALT DISNEY STUDIOS
$9,796,149
$79.4

4
Australia
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
$7,050,261
$30.9

5
Quantum of Solace
SONY PICTURES
$6,752,390
$151.6

6
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
PARAMOUNT
$5,079,120
$165.7

7
Transporter 3
LIONSGATE
$4,668,898
$25.5

8
Punisher: War Zone
LIONSGATE
$4,271,451
$4.3

9
Cadillac Records
SONY PICTURES
$3,445,559
$3.4

10
Role Models
UNIVERSAL
$2,574,460
$61.6

Source: The Hollywood …

Are American moviegoers an accurate predictor of overseas box office success? 
Yes and no, according to a new study released Monday by Nielsen PreView. 
According to Nielsen, U.S. movie box office receipts do not necessarily predict how well a movie will perform in Japan — this is particularly true of American dramas.  However, movies of all genres that did well in the U.S. consistently fared well among Australian movie-going audiences.
Curious to see how other countries fared?  View Nielsen PreView’s complete study.

The Warner Bros.’ seasonal comedy “Four Christmases” took a huge helping of the weekend Box Office,  taking in an estimated $31.7 million in Friday-Sunday grosses, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Vince Vaughn-Reese Witherspoon vehicle has taken in an approximately $46.7 million since arriving in theaters on Wednesday, one of three films positioned to make full use of a holiday-lengthened weekend.
Disney’s CG-animated feature “Bolt” had a saw a surprising 1% increase from its opening totals a week earlier, registering $26.6 million to rise from third to second place at the Box …

Mark Wahlberg’s action thriller “Max Payne,” a movie based on the popular video game, grabbed the top weekend box office spot with an $18M take. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” fell to second place with $11.2M after spending its first two weeks at the top of the pack. “The Secret Life Of Bees,” which featured music and screen star power from Queen Latifah, Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, and Dakota Fanning, finished third ahead of “W.” the bio pic of Bush 43 from Oliver Stone. The industry’s $103 million in collective grosses …

Despite the opening-weekend star power of Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, and director Ridley Scott, the Middle Eastern thriller “Body Of Lies,” brought in only $13.1M, leaving it in third place. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” took the top spot in box office earnings for the second week in a row, scooping up $17.5M in its second week. The horror film “Quarantine” grabbed the second spot, scaring up $14.2M in its first week.

RANK
TITLE
STUDIO
WEEKEND EARNINGS
(Oct 10-12)

1
BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA
WALT DISNEY STUDIOS
17.5M

2
QUARANTINE
SONY PICTURES
14.2M

3
BODY OF LIES
WARNER BROS.
13.1M

4
EAGLE EYE
DREAMWORKS/PARAMOUNT
11M

5
NICK AND NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST
SONY PICTURES
6.5M

Source: The Hollywood Reporter / …

In the lowest grossing movie weekend since 2003, Lionsgate’s “Bangkok Dangerous” claimed the top spot at the Box Office over the weekend.  The film earned an estimated $7.8 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 
Below are last weekend’s box-office totals from Nielsen EDI, as of Monday, September 8, 2008.

RANK
FILM
STUDIO
WEEKEND
GROSS

1
Bangkok Dangerous
LIONSGATE
$7,783,266
$7.8

2
Tropic Thunder
DREAMWORKS / PARAMOUNT
$7,230,710
$96.5

3
The Dark Knight
WARNER BROS.
$5,515,119
$512.0

4
The House Bunny
SONY PICTURES
$5,512,870
$36.6

5
Traitor
OVERTURE FILMS
$4,274,297
$17.3

6
Babylon A.D.
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
$4,180,570
$17.4

7
Death Race
UNIVERSAL
$3,710,915
$29.9

8
Disaster Movie
LIONSGATE
$3,031,307
$10.6

9
Mamma Mia!
UNIVERSAL
$2,855,945
$136.4

10
Pineapple Express
SONY PICTURES
$2,255,875
$84.0

Source: The Hollywood Reporter / Nielsen EDI

In the nine weeks leading up to its release, “The Dark Knight” had almost twice as much television advertising (2,401 units) as “Batman Begins” (1,287 units), according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.
The strong advertising push for “Dark Knight” may have contributed to the film’s record-breaking opening weekend.  “Dark Knight” earned $158.4 million last weekend, while “Batman Begins” took in just $46.9 million in its first weekend.
Nielsen’s data included TV advertising units for approximately nine weeks leading up to the release of both films: May 9, 2008 – July 6, 2008 (”The Dark Knight”) and April 3, 2005 …