Fox emerged from the Christmas holiday weekend victorious thanks to an impressive opening by Marley & Me, which opened with an estimated $14.675 million on Christmas Day (an all-time record Christmas Day opening) and finished the weekend with $51.675 million, including $37 million over the three-day weekend Friday-Sunday. Studio estimates gave second and third places to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Bedtime Stories, which both also broke the previous record for biggest Christmas Day opening. Bedtime Stories finished the weekend with $38.6 million in total earnings and Button finished with $39 million. The two movies traded second and third spots through the long weekend, and we'll only know which movie finished top once we have final numbers on Monday.

Coming in fourth was MGM's Valkyrie, which earned $8.4 million on Christmas Day, and picked up $21.5 million over the three day weekend. That's a solid debut, especially given the competition, and meant that the top four places were held by openers after the top three places were taken by openers last weekend.

Among the returning movies, Yes Man, The Tale of Despereaux and Seven Pounds all fell by less than 10%. The one serious disappointment for the holiday was The Spirit, which got lost in the crowd with an estimated $6.51 million Friday-Sunday and $10.35 million total so far.

- Weekend Estimates

Date posted: 2008-12-28