Holiday weekend good to Hollywood

Hollywood unwrapped lots of presents over the Christmas holiday weekend, although the box office for the four-day period was off about 2 percent compared to the same period last year.

The Ben Stiller comedy "Night at the Museum" pulled in $42.2 million in its debut, while Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky Balboa" took home a purse of $17 million in its opening weekend.

Two films opened Christmas Day. The horror flick "Black Christmas" earned $3.3 million, and the somber "Children of Men" took in $179,268 at 16 locations.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Monday, followed by distribution studio, four-day gross through Monday, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross through Tuesday and number of weeks in release, as compiled by Media By Numbers LLC are:

1. "Night at the Museum," Fox, $42,212,651, 3,685 locations, $11,455 average, $55,718,681, one week.

2. "The Pursuit of Happyness," Sony, $22,554,220, 2,863 locations, $7,878 average, $67,957,778, two weeks.

3. "Rocky Balboa," MGM , $17,003,904, 3,017 locations, $5,636 average, $26,697,118, one week.

4. "The Good Shepherd," Universal, $14,142,760, 2,215 locations, $6,385 average, $18,262,685, one week.

5. "Charlotte's Web," Paramount, $9,568,033, 3,728 locations, $2,567 average, $32,223,586, two weeks.

6. "Eragon," Fox, $9,334,259, 3,030 locations, $3,081 average, $42,898,705, two weeks.

7. "Dreamgirls," Paramount, $8,953,734, 852 locations, $10,509 average, $15,378,852, two weeks.

8. "We Are Marshall," Warner Bros., $8,582,508, 2,606 locations, $3,293 average, $12,555,528, one week.

9. "The Holiday," Sony, $6,855,456, 2,635 locations, $2,602 average, $39,206,574, three weeks.

10. "Happy Feet," Warner Bros., $6,565,747, 2,565 locations, $2,560 average, $162,982,116, six weeks.

11. "The Nativity Story," New Line, $5,800,000, 1,824 locations, $3,180 average, $33,955,000, four weeks.

12. "Blood Diamond," Warner Bros., $4,775,689, 1,920 locations, $2,487 average, $28,289,933, three weeks.

13. "Apocalypto," Disney, $4,479,914, 2,144 locations, $2,090 average, $37,449,628, three weeks.

14. "Casino Royale," Sony, $4,350,706, 1,588 locations, $2,740 average, $146,352,994, six weeks.

15. "Black Christmas," MGM, $3,307,602, 1,278 locations, $2,588 average, two-day total not available.

16. "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause," Disney, $1,319,624, 801 locations, $1,647 average, $82,636,908, eight weeks.

17. "Unaccompanied Minors," Warner Bros., $1,069,848, 1,125 locations, $951 average, $13,360,339, three weeks.

18. "Deja Vu," Disney, $1,043,787, 839 locations, $1,244 average, $60,391,598, five weeks.

19. "Borat," Fox, $801,273, 458 locations, $1,750 average, $124,679,625, eight weeks.

20. "Curse of the Golden Flower," Sony Pictures Classics, $711,336, 60 locations, $11,856 average, $859,246, one week.

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Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Vivendi Universal; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; DreamWorks, Paramount and Paramount Classics are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros., New Line, Warner Independent and Picturehouse are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lionsgate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.