No humbug here: 'Christmas Carol' is No. 1

Last update: November 8, 2009 - 6:11 PM

LOS ANGELES - Jim Carrey's new take on "A Christmas Carol" took in $31 million to open as the weekend's top movie.

The Disney animated version of the Charles Dickens classic knocked the King of Pop out of the No. 1 spot; "Michael Jackson's This Is It" slipped to second place with $14 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Featuring Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge and also as the three holiday ghosts that show Scrooge the error of his miserly ways, "A Christmas Carol" came in on the low end of Disney's expectations for opening weekend.

On the other end of the spectrum, Lionsgate's acclaimed drama "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" had a spectacular start, pulling in $1.8 million in just 18 theaters, averaging $100,000 a cinema. After winning top awards at January's Sundance Film Festival, Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry signed on as executive producers. "Precious" is about a Harlem teen who gradually rises above an upbringing of incest, abuse and illiteracy.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

1. "A Christmas Carol," $31 million.

2. "Michael Jackson's This Is It," $14 million.

3. "The Men Who Stare at Goats," $13.3 million.

4. "The Fourth Kind," $12.5 million.

5. "Paranormal Activity," $8.6 million.

6. "The Box," $7.9 million.

7. "Couples Retreat," $6.4 million.

8. "Law Abiding Citizen," $6.2 million.

9. "Where the Wild Things Are," $4.2 million.

10. "Astro Boy," $2.6 million.