For the second week in a row, the Kevin James comedy “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” led the box office with $21.6M in earnings. Newcomer “Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans” clawed to second with $20.8M. Oscar nominees for best picture were reward with a box office surge as “Slumdog Millionaire” pulled in $3.6M more than last week, and “Benjamin Button” turned back the clock with a return into the top 10, bringing in more than $6M the weekend after nominations were announced.

RANK
Title
Studio
Weekend Gross
Jan 19-25
Total Gross
Thru Jan …

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 …

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.

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.
It’s official: Americans love their carbs.  The Bread and Baked Goods category ranked number one for 2008 — both in terms of consumer purchases and retail sales.  According to Nielsen, 99% of U.S. homes purchased bread/baked goods at least once during the 52 weeks ending June 28, 2008.  The Bread/Baked Goods category raked in $18.3 billion in sales through November 1.  Other …

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.
Sony’s Playstation 2 was the top game console of 2008, claiming 31.7% of all measured console minutes, according to Nielsen.  The Xbox 360 and Wii ranked second and third, respectively, with 17.2% and 13.4% of all usage minutes between January and October of this year.
Blizzard Entertainment’s “World of Warcraft” was the most popular PC game title of the year, drawing an average of 0.723% of all PC …

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.
Google was the most popular website with U.S. Internet users, drawing the largest audience (120 million unique visitors per month, on average) through October 2008.
As of 2008, the most prolific content downloaders in the U.S. live in California, according to Scarborough Research, a joint partnership with Nielsen and Arbitron. The San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose market had the highest percentage (32%) of adults who had downloaded …

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.
Motorola’s RAZR V3 series handset was easily the most popular mobile phone in use in the U.S., as of Q3 2008.
In October, more than 15.2 million American mobile Internet users visited Yahoo! Mail, making it the most popular mobile Web destination that month.  Google Search, which drew more than 10.5 million mobile Internet users in October, ranked second. 
Among master ringtones — 20-30 second excerpts of recorded …

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.
Alicia Keys’ “As I Am” was the top selling album of 2008, according to Billboard and Nielsen.
Keys also had the most listened-to radio song of the year, “No One,” which drew 3.08 billion radio listeners between November 12, 2007 through November 16, 2008. 
“Low,” by Flo Rida, featuring T-Pain, was the most downloaded song of the year, through November 16.
According to Scarborough Research, a …