EON

Another rendition of the classic Christmas movie “A Christmas Carol” got the holiday box office season started this weekend.

The film based on the story written by Charles Dickens is shot using performance-capture technology and had Canada’s own Jim Carrey playing the characters of Scrooge, from early childhood to adulthood, as well as the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.

This family favourite brought in $31 million in its opening weekend. Michael Jackson’s concert documentary “This Is It” dropped to second place in its second week adding another $14 million for a total of $57.9 million domestically.

Falling in just behind “This Is It” with $13.3 million was “The Men Who Stare at Goats”; a new comedy starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey.

Debuting in fourth this weekend was the thriller starring Mila Jovovich called “The Fourth Kind” which earned $12.5 million. Finally, rounding out the top five with $8.6 million was “Paranormal Activity”, a supernatural thriller that cost only $15,000 to produce and has now earned close to $100 million since its release on September 25.