A Christmas Carol tops US Box Office

Despite the huge buzz surrounding the elaborate release plans for Michael Jackson film "This Is It", Robert Zemeckis'S 3D reimagining of the classic "A Christmas Carol" tale topped the US box office at the weekend.

MTV.com reports however that it was a lacklustre week in general for those counting the pennies taken in in theatres nationwide.

With a $200m budget, the opening weekend return of $31m for "A Christmas Carol" will be seen as hugely disappointing. "This Is It" took in less than half of the "Christmas Carol" total, and had been as low as fourth position through Friday before a Saturday surge raised it by two spots.

Despite underperforming according to expectations in the United States, Kenny Ortega's collection of rehearsal footage has grossed $200m worldwide, and with its limited release will surely remain afloat for the next few weeks.

Newcomers "The Men Who Stare At Goats" and "The Fourth Kind" finished in third and fourth place respectively, "Goats" taking in $13.3m and Milla Jovovich's latest film $12.5m. Both films were produced on modest budgets and should have little difficulty in breaking even.

Despite the presence of A-Lister Cameron Diaz, Richard Kelly's debuting thriller "The Box" couldn't quite break the top five, landing in sixth place with 7.9 million.