With no new films opening over the weekend the top seven movies remained in exactly the same order as last week while suffering only modest drops in earnings.  Once again the canine-centric comedy/drama Marley & Me led the pack with an estimated $24.1 million, a 34% drop that allowed what should end up becoming the top Fox film of the year to lift its cumulative to $106.5 million.  Disney’s Bedtime Stories remained in second place, dropping only 26%, while The Curious Case of Benjamin Button stayed in third with only a 32% decline.  Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie once again ended up in fourth followed by Jim Carrey’s Yes Man, Will Smith’s Seven Pounds, and the animated Tale of Despereaux, the only cartoon feature in the top ten.

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): January 2-4, 2009

Overall 2009 got off to a strong start with an 7% gain in admissions versus the first week of 2008.  On the negative side, Frank Miller’s adaptation of Will Eisner’s The Spirit fared the worst of all the films in the Top 20 with a 49.4% drop.  Averaging just $1,304 per venue, The Spirit dropped four spots from #9 to #13, falling behind two films, Twilight and Bolt, which were spending their seventh weekend in theaters.  

 The teen vampire romance Twilight has now opened up a $10 million lead over the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace.  Twilight, which has already brought in nearly $177 million so far, has a slim chance to reach to reach the $200 million mark, but should finish north of $190 million, not bad for a film that cost a mere $37 million to produce.