Comedian Jim Carrey's film Yes Man opened at the top of the US box office, beating Will Smith's drama Seven Pounds.
Yes Man, a comedy about a man who vows to say yes to everything asked of him, earned $1.2 million, studio figures showed Sunday.
Seven Pounds, which stars Smith as a tax agent trying to help seven people, brought in $16 million in its first weekend. In third place was an animated mouse in The Tale of Despereaux.
Bad weather across much of the country kept many movie goers at home, with the weekend bringing it $83 million compared to $154 million in the weekend before Christmas last year.
The science fiction remake The Day The Earth Stood Still fell from first place to fourth in its second weekend with $10.2 million.
The holiday comedy Four Christmases starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon rounded out the top five at $7.7 million. It has earned a total of $100 million.