Of the three new releases that opened wide this weekend, only one made much of an impact, resulting in a rather stagnant top 10. Keanu Reeves got to relive his Matrix box-office-glory days thanks to his role in this week's No. 1, The Day The Earth Stood Still, which walloped the competition with $31 million. That's well over double what the No. 2 movie–Four Christmases–took in ($13.27 million). Nothing Like The Holidays limped into the top 10 at No. 7 with $3.5 million, while the third major new release this weekend, Delgo, didn't even come close: The widely panned animated fantasy didn't break the $1 million mark, taking the No. 16 spot with $916,000.
The rest of the top 10 held up relatively well, with the No 2 through 6 spots all slipping just one spot since last week. Twilight bumped down to No. 3 with $8 million (which puts it over the $150 million mark), Bolt slipped only 23 percent to No. 4 with $7.5 million, Australia fell to No. 5 with $4.29 million, and Quantum Of Solace came it at No. 6 in its fifth week with $3.8 million. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa fell two spots to No. 8 with $3.25 million, and Transporter 3 took a tumble to the tune of 51 percent, landing at No. 10 with $2.25 million.
Milk amped up its distribution considerably in its third week–from 99 to 328 theaters–and its high per-screen average was enough to put it at No. 9 with $2.64 million. Some other awards contenders–notably Doubt, Gran Torino, The Reader, and Che–opened strong in limited release, with per-screen averages quadruple (or more) that of this weekend's No. 1.
More detailed box-office numbers can be found at boxofficemojo.com.