LOS ANGELES (AFP)--The tale of a married couple's life with a troublesome canine, "Marley and Me," took the biggest bite out of the North American box office for the second week running, preliminary figures showed Sunday.
Starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, "Marley" was the top draw for audiences in the United States and Canada, bringing in $24 million in its second weekend, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said.
Moviegoers on the first weekend of 2009 chose "Bedtime Stories," as the second top flick, also for the second week in a row. The Adam Sandler comedy about a janitor whose dreams begin to come true brought in $20.3 million.
Ranking third was "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," the technically brilliant dramatic comedy headlined by Aniston's ex-flame Brad Pitt, which took in $18.4 million with its story of a man who is born old and gets younger with time.
Tom Cruise's Nazi epic "Valkyrie," about a plot by German officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler, came in fourth in its second weekend, with $14 million dollars.
The Jim Carrey comedy "Yes Man," about a man who changes his life by agreeing to everything, raked in $13.8 million for fifth place in its third weekend in theaters.
The drama "Seven Pounds," starring Will Smith as a man haunted by a secret, pulled in $10 million, while the animated flick "The Tale of Despereaux," about a big-eared mouse with great curiosity and ambitions, followed in seventh place with $7 million.
"Doubt," starring Meryl Streep as a nun who confronts molestation in the Catholic church, climbed to eighth place in its fourth week, bringing in $5 million.
Science fiction thriller "The Day the Earth Stood Still," dropped to ninth place after its number-one debut in December, earning $4.8 million. The Fox remake of a 1951 cult classic stars Keanu Reeves as an alien that comes to earth.
Rounding out the top 10 with $4.7 million was "Slumdog Millionaire," the critically acclaimed flick from U.K. director Danny Boyle that tells the story of a young man from Mumbai, India who seeks out his childhood sweetheart by entering a TV gameshow.
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Publié le 04 janvier 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones