By Franck Tabouring
Weekend of December 19 -21, 2008

Jim Carrey’s latest comedy “Yes Man” topped the North American box office this weekend with $18.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

In the Peyton Reed-directed film, Carrey stars as a bitter man who decides to change his life and say yes to everything and anything. For a mainstream Carrey comedy, however, “Man” delivered an unusually low performance at the box office.

Contrary to his recent films, Will Smith’s latest drama “Seven Pounds” also failed to score a big opening, debuting with only $16 million at No. 2. Directed by Gabriele Muccino, the film follows a desperate IRS agent who embarks on a quest to forever change the lives of seven strangers.

New entry “The Tale of Despereaux” collected $10.5 million in third place. Based on the beloved book by Kate DiCamillo, the computer-animated family film tells the adventures of a brave mouse who rescues a princess from the claws of hungry rats.

Meanwhile, last week’s box office champion “The Day the Earth Stood Still” dropped to No. 4, earning $10.1 million and lifting its domestic total to $48.6 million. Following in fifth place was Seth Gordon’s “Four Christmases,” which brought its total haul to $100.1 million after this weekend’s earnings of $7.7 million.

At No. 6, Catherine Hardwicke’s “Twilight” took home another $5.2 million. The cumulative gross of the popular vampire romance based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer now stands at $158.4 million.

Walt Disney’s animated adventure “Bolt” picked up $4.2 million in seventh place for a domestic gross of $95 million, while Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” pulled $3.1 million at only 589 locations for a cumulative gross of $12.1 million.

Two films rounded out the top 10: Baz Luhrmann’s epic drama “Australia” at No. 9 with a weekend gross of $2.3 million and a total haul of $41.9 million, and Marc Forster’s “Quantum of Solace” with $2.1 million and a cumulative of $161.3 million.

Source: BoxOfficeMojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)