While you'd have thought it would have made sense to wait a few weeks until people were more in the festive spirit before they released a new version version of A Christmas Carol, Robert Zemeckis' new motion capture CG movie on Dickens' classic has nevertheless topped the weekend box office in the US, with a take of $31 million.
Although it's not a bad opening, with an estmated budget of $200 million, Disney is going to have to hope that A Christmas Carol continues to make solid numbers right up to Christmas, if the film is going to make its money back on its cinema release. With a lot of competition coming over the next few weeks, including New Moon and 2012, it may struggle.
Other new entries in the top 10 include the George Clooney and Ewan McGregor comedy, The Men Who Stare At Goats, which came in at number three with $13.3 million. As it only cost $25 million to make, it's certainly a good start. At number four was The Fourth Kind, with Milla Jovovich investigating alien encounters, which took £12.5 million despite some very negative reviews. Also hitting the top 10 was The Box, Richard Kelly's (Donnie Darko) new film starring Cameron Diaz, which based on a short story by Richard Matheson that has previously been a Twilight Zone episode. The film took $7.8 million for a sixth place finish.
However the big news was outside the top 10, where the much anticipated movie Precious opened to $1.8 million. That may not sound that impressive, but it did it on only 18 screens, which is an astonishing $100,000 per location. It's only the third live-action film ever to make $100,000 or more per theatre on its opening weekend and the first ever for a film released on more than 10 screens at once. The film is about an abused teen who is now pregant with her second child, and who gets enrolled in a special school in the hope that it can turn her life in a new direction. Precious already had Oscar buzz before its release, which is bound to grow louder after its stunning opening weekend.
Click below to see the full US box office top 10 for the weekend of November 6th-8th.
| Rank |
Title |
Weekend Gross (millions) |
Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 |
Disney's A Christmas Carol |
$31.0 |
$31.0 |
| 2 |
Michael Jackson's This Is It |
$14.0 |
$57.8 |
| 3 |
The Men Who Stare At Goats |
$13.3 |
$13.3 |
| 4 |
The Fourth Kind |
$12.5 |
$12.5 |
| 5 |
Paranormal Activity |
$8.6 |
$97.4 |
| 6 |
The Box |
$7.8 |
$7.8 |
| 7 |
Couples Retreat |
$6.4 |
$95.9 |
| 8 |
Law Abiding Citizen |
$6.1 |
$60.8 |
| 9 |
Where The Wild Things Are |
$4.2 |
$69.2 |
| 10 |
Astro Boy |
$2.5 |
$15.0 |