To kick this thing off, I will introduce a little because I won't feel like doing it later. I will be blogging (hopefully) every Sunday or Monday about the recent box office action (or inaction, as the case may be).
This weekend saw two heavy hitters battling it out. The once indestructible Jim Carrey returned to his tried and true comedy with YES MAN and the currently indestructible (and, I acertain, the only true A-Lister left in Hollywood) Will Smith with the confusing SEVEN POUNDS. Neither flick really punched hard at the box office, with studios putting the blame on the "weather", as if snow in later December is really a shocker.
YES MAN ($18,160,000) - With the movie getting pretty decent reviews, Jim Carrey has his best live action true-headlining movie since BRUCE ALMIGHTY's nearly $68 million May 2003 take (Lemony Snicket doesn't really count). Deschanel, on the other hand, was considerably off from her previous outing, 2007's THE HAPPENING, which opened at just over $30,000,000.
SEVEN POUNDS ($16,000,000) - With confusing ads and being an apparent award-seeker, I didn't expect much from this one so $16m was a shock, but a disappointment comparitively to his previous outings but, with a modest $55,000,000 budget, it should easily be able to recoup it's costs when international receipts are factored in. This marked Smith's weakest opening since his previous Award-seeker, 2001's ALI, opening at just over $14 million, ultimately resulting in an Oscar nomination. But, with Smiths' name being left out of just about every Award nomination list so far, Seven Pounds won't have that to fall back on.
THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX ($10,507,000) - Opening much better than comparitive films DELGO and IGOR, Desperaux exceeded most predictions but failed to come anywhere near the Disney or Dreamworks juggernauts.
Another new release, and Oscar-bait, THE WRESTLER managed to scrounge up $209,000 in only 4 theaters, handily giving it a the best per-theater average ($52,250) of any movie this weekend on it's way to a sure-fire Best Actor nomination for star Mickey Rourke.
The top 10 fanned out as follows:
| TW | LW | Title (click to read review) | Weekend Gross | Total Gross |
| 1 | N | Yes Man | $18,160,000 | $18,160,000 |
| 2 | N | Seven Pounds | $16,000,000 | $16,000,000 |
| 3 | N | The Tale of Despereaux | $10,507,000 | $10,507,000 |
| 4 | 1 | The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) | $10,150,000 | $48,627,000 |
| 5 | 2 | Four Christmases | $7,745,000 | $100,154,000 |
| 6 | 3 | Twilight | $5,227,000 | $158,461,000 |
| 7 | 4 | Bolt | $4,256,000 | $95,009,000 |
| 8 | 11 | Slumdog Millionaire | $3,150,000 | $12,134,000 |
| 9 | 5 | Australia | $2,325,000 | $41,947,000 |
| 10 | 6 | Quantum of Solace | $2,150,000 | $161,300,000 |
Source: Box Office Mojo