Los Angeles, January 5: 20th Century Fox’s “Marley and Me” starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson is unmoved and still occupying the top spot at the box office for the second week in a row.
“Marley and Me”, directed by David Frankel, is the story of a journalist and his dog. It grossed $24.1 million, making it the No. 1 movie of the weekend and putting its total sales to a total of $106.5 million in just 11 days.
Bert Livingston, 20th Century Fox’s distribution executive, attributes the success of the movie to it being a “feel-good” movie saying, "A picture doesn't stay No. 1 for two weeks without getting great word of mouth. It's a feel-good movie. That's what people want to see right now."
Disney’s family movie “Bedtime Stories” starring Adam Sandler took the number two spot during the weekend, grossing $20.3 million from 3,684 locations and taking its total sales to $85.3 million.
Seated at No. 3 is Paramount’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. The romantic drama had sales of $18.4 million from 2,988 locations during the weekend, which brings its total to $79 million.
At No. 4 is MGM’s “Valkyrie” starring Tom Cruise. The World War II tale took in $14 million during the weekend bringing its total gross to $60.7 million.
Despite doing well, all four movies saw a gradual decline in sales from the previous weekend. Sales of “Marley and Me” went down by 34 percent, “Bedtime Stories” by 26 percent, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” by 31 percent and “Valkyrie” by 33 percent.
The past year has been tough for the movie industry mainly due to the recession. The total number of tickets sold during the year decreased by 4.3 percent compared to tickets sold in 2007.
But despite that number, movies are looking at a brighter future as the top 12 movies brought in a total gross of $130.1 million at the start of the year. This is 7.4 percent increase compared to the same weekend in 2008.
The top ten movies and their earnings during the weekend are as follows:
1. Marley & Me - $24.1 million.
2. Bedtime Stories - $20.3 million.
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - $18.4 million.
4. Valkyrie - $14 million.
5. Yes Man - $13.9 million.
6. Seven Pounds - $10 million.
7. The Tale of Despereaux - $7 million.
8. Doubt - $5 million.
9. The Day the Earth Stood Still - $4.9 million.
10. Slumdog Millionaire - $4.8 million.
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