Box Office Still Feeling The Christmases Spirit

Four Christmases was #1 for the second week in a row at the box office this weekend, taking in an estimated $18.1 million and bringing its domestic total to $70.8 million. Last weekend's #2 and #3 swapped places, with Twilight's $13.2 million finishing ahead of Bolt's $9.7 million.

The story of the historically slow weekend however was Punisher: Warzone coming in almost dead in the water with a paltry take of $4 million, way below industry projections. Even Transporter 3 finished ahead of Marvel's latest, with a $4.5 million bow.

Good news, however, remains with smaller specialty films. Frost/Nixon opened with $180,000 across 3 screens, for a second-highest-of-the-year per-screen average of $60,000. Milk and Slumdog Millionaire also continue to perform well, finishing with $1.7 million ($17,000 per-screen average) and $1.4 million ($18,000 per-screen average), respectively. Australia's $7 million take this weekend and Quantum of Solace's $6.6 million round out the top 5.

Despite the weak opening and poor reviews from critics, Punisher will look to bounce back next weekend as fan buzz of the film has been generally positive and its only new competition will be Fox's remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still.

Check out Box Office Mojo for the full weekend chart.