One other new release made it to the charts this week; the drama Not Easily Broken finished in ninth place. It may look like a low finish, but it opened on about one third of the screens as the other top ten films, and it does boast the third best per theater average of the top ten. Morris Chestnut stars in this story of a man whose wife is injured in an accident who falls for another woman.
The returning films all fell uniformly in the 50%+ range. I suspect the cold, snowy weather parts of the country experienced had some effect on the charts, but nothing that would have made a big difference in the outcome.
Next week will see a number of new films for the new year. There will be the horror remake My Bloody Valentine:3D, the family comedy Hotel for Dogs, Kevin James's return in Paul Blart: Mall Cop, the biopic Notorious, and the expansion of the Daniel Craig WWII film Defiance. Another film opening in limited release is one I hope to see, Chandini Chowk to China.
Four movies dropped off the top ten this week: Slumdog Millionaire (11), The Tale of Despereaux (13), Doubt (14), and The Day the Earth Stood Still (15).
| This Week | Last Week | Title | Wknd Gross | Overall | Week in release |
| 1 | 14 | Gran Torino | $29,484,388 | $40,524,518 | 5 |
| 2 | N | Bride Wars | $21,058,173 | $21,058,173 | 1 |
| 3 | N | The Unborn | $19,810,585 | $19,810,585 | 1 |
| 4 | 1 | Marley & Me | $11,391,425 | $123,751,596 | 3 |
| 5 | 3 | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | $9,212,515 | $94,092,395 | 3 |
| 6 | 2 | Bedtime Stories | $8,802,120 | $97,432,093 | 3 |
| 7 | 4 | Valkyrie | $6,617,065 | $71,464,448 | 3 |
| 8 | 5 | Yes Man | $6,032,337 | $89,288,024 | 4 |
| 9 | N | Not Easily Broken | $5,314,278 | $5,314,278 | 1 |
| 10 | 6 | Seven Pounds | $3,818,230 | $66,748,686 | 4 |
Box Office Predictions Recap
Not one of my better guesstimation weeks. Some of my dollar predictions were pretty close, but my placings were universally off the mark. My biggest surprises were Gran Torino taking the top spot (which I am happy for) and The Unborn posting surprisingly strong numbers (jury is out until I see the movie).
Here is how the field matched up:
| Actual | Prediction | Title | Wknd Gross | Prediction |
| 2 | 1 | Bride Wars | $21,058,173 | $22 million |
| 1 | 2 | Gran Torino | $29,484,388 | $17 million |
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4 |
3 | Marley & Me | $11,391,425 | $14 million |
| 5 | 4 | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | $9,212,515 | $13 million |
| 6 | 5 | Bedtime Stories | $8,802,120 | $9.5 million |
| 3 | 6 | The Unborn | $19,810,585 | $8 million |
| 8 | 7 | Yes Man | $6,032,337 | $7 million |
| 7 | 8 | Valkyrie | $6,617,065 | $6 million |
| 10 | 9 | Seven Pounds | 3,818,230 | $5 million |
| 11 | 10 | Slumdog Millionaire | $3,782,340 | $4 million |
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