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Saturday
03Jan2009

Box Office - 'Marley' Stays on Top on Friday

DateSaturday, January 3, 2009 at 12:35PM
A couple of days ago, we told you not to expect massive changes at the box office. There are no national releases this weekend, so even though there are some films expanding into more theaters, those Oscar contenders won't show up in the top ten for the weekend, although they'll have healthy per-screen averages, which is sometimes a better barometer of performance.

On Friday, Marley & Me continued its historic run. As analyst Steve Mason points out, it will probably be the biggest live-action dog film ever, and yes, that's a pretty healthy sub-genre. With another $9 million and change to start the weekend, the Owen Wilson-Jennifer Aniston flick has made over $90 million in just eight days, and will probably wind up being the biggest hit of 2008 for Fox, a studio that desperately needed a big finish.

By the end of the weekend, Marley will probably be in the $115 million range, with plenty of road ahead of it. Look for a weekend total in the $25 - $28 million ballpark.

It appears that Bedtime Stories will get the better of Benjamin Button (fake porn title: The Bi-Curious Case of Benjamin's...well, you get the idea), and may finish the weekend around $22 million with a stronger-than-expected $9 million take on Friday. Button is not far off the pace, with just under $7 million on Friday, projecting nicely for a $20 million three-day run.

We had predicted that these two films would finish in the opposite order, because of Button's healthy debut over Christmas. Still, they'll both be in the $150 million neighborhood by the time it's all said and done.

Like the day before the prom, we'll have a full breakout tomorrow, showing you the complete top five, as well as the numbers for the awards favorites that are slowly adding to their totals.

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AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment3 Comments |

Reader Comments (3)

How about The Bi-Curious Taste of Benjamin's...

Saturday, January 3, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterBrian Dunn

Marley and Me is money to a great extent because Jennifer Aniston is money; Owen Wilson is... not so much

Saturday, January 3, 2009 | Unregistered Commentercoffee buzz

That's not true. She's only had two other $100 million movies in 14 tries. One starred Jim Carrey, the other Vince Vaughn. So, Bruce Almighty and The Break-Up are her only hits, and she was supporting very successful comedic actors. In fact, there's no way she should be given any credit whatsoever for Bruce Almighty.

So if anything, Owen Wilson has the better track record. At the very least, you can't argue that as a movie star she's more bankable than Owen.

Aniston has never opened well when she's the front-and-center star. She has to share the spotlight and she can only draw a crowd when it's a comedy. Witness Derailed, which is one of her better efforts. Around $60 million worldwide. And then there's Rock Star...

Sunday, January 4, 2009 | Registered CommenterColin Boyd

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