Box Office: Spirits, Stories and Buttons

The pre-Christmas weekend was good to Jim Carrey, Will Smith and an animated mouse. The rest of the top five was filled out by holdovers from previous weeks, including Four Christmases in its fourth week of release. Here's the top five:

1. Yes Man: $18.2 million
2. Seven Pounds: $14.8 million
3. The Tale of Despereaux: $10.1 million
4. The Day the Earth Stood Still: $9.9 million
5. Four Christmases: $7.7 million

Santa is leaving five presents under the tree for movie fans. Whether they contain coal or a GI Joe with Kung Fu Grip remains to be seen. All five of these are opening on Thursday, Christmas day, rather than the usual Friday.

Bedtime Stories
What's It All About: Adam Sandler stars in this comedy about a man who realizes that the fanciful tales he's telling his niece and nephew are coming true.
Why It Might Do Well: This seems tailor-made for people who liked Sandler's 2006 film Click which had a $40 million opening weekend and went on to earn $237 million worldwide.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Rottentomatoes.com is currently rating the film 21% rotten.
Number of Theaters: 3,500
Prediction: $36 million

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
What's It All About: Brad Pitt stars in a film based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald story about a man who is born at the age of 80 and ages in reverse.
Why It Might Do Well: Mr. Pitt carries some serious box office clout, the trailer looks intriguing and Rottentomatoes.com give the film 78%.
Why It Might Not Do Well: It is to laugh.
Number of Theaters: 2,900
Prediction: $22 million




Marley and Me
What's It All About: To find out if they're ready for parenthood, a couple adopt a troublesome Labrador retriever. Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston star in a film based on the best seller by John Grogan.
Why It Might Do Well: What kind of heartless cur doesn't love a shaggy dog story?
Why It Might Not Do Well: 37% at Rottentomatoes.com, and an irritating similarity to Beethoven may keep people away.
Number of Theaters: 3,300
Prediction: $24 million

The Spirit
What's It All About: Based on the classic comic book by Will Eisner, The Spirit is the tale of a cop who is murdered and brought back to life as a masked avenger.
Why It Might Do Well: Comic book movies are still pretty hot and director Frank Miller co-directed Sin City, created the graphic novels that film was based on, and wrote and drew 300, which was the basis for Zack Snyder's film.
Why It Might Not Do Well: While The Spirit comic is considered a classic, the character is not particularly well known to mainstream audiences and Rottentomatoes.com is giving this a disappointing 13%.
Number of Theaters: 2,400
Prediction: $12 million

Valkyrie
What's It All About: Tom Cruise stars in this film based on an actual plot by German military officers to kill Hitler.
Why It Might Do Well: Bryan Singer, the director of The Usual Suspects and the first two X-Men films is at the helm, and despite a few PR quirks in recent years, that Cruise guy can really pull them in.
Why It Might Not Do Well: That 59% at Rottentomatoes.com doesn't bode well.
Number of Theaters: 2,500
Prediction: $16 million

Here's what I think next week's top five will look like:
1. Bedtime Stories
2. Marley and Me
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
4. Valkyrie
5. The Spirit

Congratulations to johnny for pulling a perfect score on last week's prediction (I would congratulate myself too but that would just be gauche). Here's how we all did.
1. johnny: 16
1. Matt: 16
2. interjected: 12
2. Alex Farquharson: 12
2. Gatorman: 12
2. lostinafog: 12
2. stozi: 12
2. Gregory Rubinstein: 12
2. Daddio: 12
3. Vera: 10
3. greatone: 10
3. Romel: 10
3. I Eat Robots: 10
3. Ray: 10
4. cough: 8
5. VP: 7
5. Zach: 7
5. jessejames: 7

Post your predictions for the top five movies in the comments section below before 5:00PM Eastern Time on Friday. One point for every top five movie correctly named, two points for every correct placement, and one extra point for the top movie.