'Marley & Me' Wins Again, 'Button' In Third

LOS ANGELES — Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson's family dog tale "Marley & Me" nuzzled its way to another top finish at the box office, pulling in $24.3 million over its second weekend.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Media By Numbers LLC are:

1. "Marley and Me," Fox, $24,263,763, 3,505 locations, $6,923 average, $106,664,046, two weeks.

2. "Bedtime Stories," Disney, $20,501,339, 3,684 locations, $5,565 average, $85,539,168, two weeks.

3. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Paramount, $18,691,248, 2,988 locations, $6,255 average, $79,297,086, two weeks.

4. "Valkyrie," MGM, $14,094,617, 2,778 locations, $5,074 average, $60,743,921, two weeks.

5. "Yes Man," Warner Bros., $13,910,477, 3,434 locations, $4,051 average, $79,507,388, three weeks.

6. "Seven Pounds," Sony, $10,068,518, 2,758 locations, $3,651 average, $60,147,298, three weeks.

Story continues below

advertisement

7. "The Tale of Despereaux," Universal, $6,939,295, 3,091 locations, $2,245 average, $43,661,775, three weeks.

8. "The Day the Earth Stood Still," Fox, $5,049,698, 2,337 locations, $2,161 average, $74,424,256, four weeks.

9. "Doubt," Miramax, $5,000,893, 1,287 locations, $3,886 average, $18,705,481, four weeks.

10. "Slumdog Millionaire," Fox Searchlight, $4,690,769, 612 locations, $7,665 average, $28,676,598, eight weeks.

11. "Twilight," Summit, $4,648,642, 1,888 locations, $2,462 average, $176,922,850, seven weeks.

12. "Bolt," Disney, $3,291,944, 1,729 locations, $1,904 average, $109,917,145, seven weeks.

13. "The Spirit," Lionsgate, $3,259,898, 2,509 locations, $1,299 average, $17,743,738, two weeks.

14. "Gran Torino," Warner Bros., $2,936,423, 84 locations, $34,957 average, $9,820,554, four weeks.

15. "Four Christmases," Warner Bros., $2,811,390, 2,307 locations, $1,219 average, $118,189,834, six weeks.

16. "Milk," Focus, $1,888,510, 309 locations, $6,112 average, $17,157,994, six weeks.

17. "The Reader," Weinstein Co., $1,598,472, 398 locations, $4,016 average, $3,553,578, four weeks.

18. "Frost/Nixon," Universal, $1,400,484, 205 locations, $6,832 average, $6,291,176, five weeks.

19. "Australia," Fox, $1,163,169, 765 locations, $1,520 average, $46,686,713, six weeks.

20. "Quantum of Solace," Sony, $1,130,055, 891 locations, $1,268 average, $166,820,413, eight weeks.

___

On the Net:

http://www.mediabynumbers.com

___

Universal Pictures, Focus Features and Rogue Pictures are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co.; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; DreamWorks, Paramount and Paramount Classics are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros., New Line, Warner Independent and Picturehouse are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lionsgate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.

Comments

[Bostongirl1]

oh jeez - it's really dissapointing that huffington is keeping this silly rivalry going with headlines putting Jenn against Brad. Both movies are doing quite well if you consider the per screen ratio.

It's a new year and continuing to discuss people who lives are a thousand times more financial sound then mine is not the way I want to spend 2009. You guys have been fun and entertaining but enough is enough.

[Aesthete]

Amen.

[pjgills]

My son and I saw Marley & Me yesterday and there was only one other child in the theater. The rest of the movie goers were much older (white haired) and very much enjoyed the film also. For anyone who has had an animal, it's a wonderful story. It's escapism at its best. Exactly what the country needs right now. And I have to say as someone who has been left for another woman by my husband I am taking great satisfaction in Jen's movie doing better than Brad's. I really could care less if he gets awards for his movie and she doesn't. Golden Globe Awards and Academy Awards are just show business people patting themselves on the back. The only reason I watch the Grammy Awards is because they usually have decent live music. More attention should be paid to Teacher of the Year winners. They're important.

[maggie1295]

I'm sure Marley is fun, mindless little pop corn movie. I'm not at all surprised that it's in first place. It's just the type of movie you take the kids to during school vacation. Marley isn't in competition with Benjamin Button. Benjamin Button is a serious, well acted, beautifully photographed film. The audiences are quite different.

[ciccocenta]

i was unanimously voted down & had to see Benjamin Buttons on Christmas---YAWN!!!!! Note to Hollywood: Chill on the 3hr Forrest Gump wannabe type flicks. Theyre boring.

[Tatiana]

Now why does ciccocenta get to post a review when mine were deleted?

[PuppiesandUnicorns]

B/c her insights are brilliant.

[bubbuh]

Possibly, you said naughty things in a personally impolite fashion?

[Tatiana]

I posted a review of BB, didn't care for the length of it, not much else it was just my opinion.
NOW it's gone!!
WTF? Makes no sense.

[JCali]

gee, what a shocker... that a movie with a cute dog does well during the holidays when all the kids are home from school for an extended period...

[Eric8869]

and then they are traumatized because the dog dies over 5 long scenes

[fcsakes]

The dog dies? Oh crap.

[horsey]

Jen has obviously become the Queen of Hollywood and the sweetheart of America.

Angie is slowly fading away into oblivion.

[Aesthete]

I don't foresee Angelina Jolie going away any time soon. She is a fine dramatic actress who already has one Oscar under her belt. I'm getting a little tired of the media "pity party" for Anniston just because her husband left her for another (how many times does this happen daily to somebody?). Besides, Ms. Anniston moved on a long time ago. Both women have been blessed with opportunities that many an actress out there would love to have, so I'm not shedding any tears for either of them.

[claptrapa]

I see Miss Aniston has remained on top with her film. I realize that Jennifer is a light, romantic comedy actress, but there is a need for those too. This is a troubled universe in which we abide. A lovely, very adroit romantic actress (which she most certainly is) takes our minds off of problems and lifts us, for an hour or so, into an enjoyable scenario. I notice that Diane Keaton has also turned to that genre. Bravo, Jennifer.

[Aesthete]

I think it's rather silly that many in the media have cast the films "Marley and Me" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" as a competition between Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. I have not yet seen "Marley and Me" because at this season I usually make it my business to see all the films that have been nominated for awards so I can watch the award shows with some firsthand knowledge about the nominated films. No doubt I will, at some point, get around to seeing "Marley and Me," but there are so many films and so little time. I suspect that "Marley and Me" is benefitting from its release date when children are on Christmas holiday from school and its a film that the entire family can see.

[dejavu1972]

I see Milk is not on the list but, in addition to Doubt, it is compelling. The two movies are outstanding.

[horsey]

Milk wasn't that good in fact it was pretty bad,

[dejavu1972]

Could this be a matter of opinion? Mine is that Milk is a very good movie.

[Eric8869]

wow - remind me not to see movies with you. MILK is great

[Stagehnd1]

Yeah...Doubt was good!!

[bubbuh]

"Milk" and some of the other "serious" films are still in limited distribution, trying to generate a groundswell during the Oscar voting season.

[TimTrainer]

People, go see Button! It's amazing. Second best movie of the year after "The Dark Knight" according to independent film critic at movieEVERYday.com.

[Di4Peace]

BB is too long, it would probably be doing better if not so long. No movie should be over 2 hours long.

[lioness39]

Way to go, Jennifer. Still kicking arse I see. Good girl.

[hollybork]

I suspect Marley & Me is the kind of funny, fluff ball of a movie that people need right now to distract them from the state of the world, and its success will run its course. But Benjamin Button, with superb performances by its ensemble case, is a masterpiece. It is a tone poem. It is a great work of art, and will go down in cinema history. Just simply a beautiful work, poetic, deep and profoundly moving.

[trinity]

True...in scary uneasy times, people flock to fluffy romantic comedy movies (or comedies in general) to put their jitters at ease (at least for a little while), they don't want to see movies that are more on the serious side, or ones that make you think.

[Eric8869]

Have you seen the state of Broadway?? All the musicals are fluffy escapism - Hairspray, Spamalot, Legally Blonde,,,,,same reason.

[andj]

hollybork
you are right - its just like the second Forrest Gump

[choctawfrazer]

I saw both movies. BB was too long and Marley was entertaining but very sad.