Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- The Jim Carrey comedy “Yes Man” opened in first place at U.S. and Canadian theaters this weekend, taking in $18.2 million for Time Warner Inc.

The movie beat out the Will Smith drama “Seven Pounds,” which made $16 million in its debut to finish second, box-office tracker Media By Numbers LLC said today in an e-mailed statement. “The Tale of Despereaux,” an animated film, was third with $10.5 million.

“Yes Man” bolsters Time Warner’s position as the top money-making studio for 2008. Before the weekend, it had taken in $1.81 billion, outpacing second-place Viacom Inc.’s $1.61 billion, according to Box Office Mojo LLC.

“Considering the weather, ‘Yes Man’ did very well,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the president of Media By Numbers. “It proves once again that audiences are looking for escapist entertainment.”

“Yes Man” was expected to make $26 million and “Seven Pounds” $20 million, according to Jeff Hartke, box-office analyst at Los Angeles-based Hollywood Stock Exchange.

In the film, Carrey plays a man who transforms his humdrum life after challenging himself to say yes to every opportunity for a year. Zooey Deschanel and Bradley Cooper are co-stars.

‘Seven Pounds’

“Seven Pounds” stars Smith as a man who tries to atone for a tragic past by helping seven strangers. The movie reunites Smith with Gabriele Muccino, director of the actor’s 2006 film “The Pursuit of Happyness.”

Third place’s “The Tale of Despereaux” tell the story of a brave mouse who must rescue a princess. The animated film from General Electric Co.’s Universal Pictures features the voices of Matthew Broderick, Tracey Ullman and “Harry Potter” movies co- star Emma Watson.

News Corp.’s “The Day the Earth Stood Still” dropped to fourth place from first with ticket sales of $10.2 million. Keanu Reeves stars as an alien being who visits Earth to warn humanity of its erroneous ways. He’s accompanied by a powerful robot protector.

“Four Christmases” was fifth with $7.75 million. The Time Warner movie stars Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn as a couple forced to spend Christmas visiting their divorced parents.

‘Slumdog Millionaire’

“Slumdog Millionaire,” News Corp.’s R-rated film about an 18-year-old Mumbai orphan who becomes a national celebrity, rose to eighth place from 11th last week, making $3.15 million.

Directed by Danny Boyle, the film is one of several limited-release movies such as “Milk” and “The Wrestler” that are succeeding alongside the blockbusters this season.

“These are terrific films that are packing them in on a theater-by-theater basis,” Dergarabedian said.

Rounding out the top 10 in 6th through 10th place, excluding 8th, are “Twilight,” Summit Entertainment’s vampire romance, which dropped to sixth from third, taking in $5.23 million; Walt Disney Co.’s “Bolt,” an animated film featuring the voices of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus, with $4.26 million; “Australia,” Baz Luhrmann’s epic from News Corp., with $2.33 million; and the James Bond movie “Quantum of Solace,” from Sony/MGM, which came in 10th with $2.15 million.

Receipts for the top 12 movies fell 44 percent to $82.8 million from the year-earlier period, Encino, California-based Media By Numbers said. For the year, box-office sales have fallen 0.16 percent to $9.2 billion. Year-to-date attendance has declined 4.6 percent.

The following table has figures provided by studios to Media By Numbers. The amounts are based on gross ticket sales from Dec. 19 and yesterday and estimates for today.

Movie            Rev.  Theaters  Wks   Avg./    Pct.  Total
                 (mln)                Theater   Chg.  (mln)
                 F-S-S
1. Yes Man        $18.2   3,434   -   $5,288     --   $18.2
2. Seven Pounds    16.0   2,758   -    5,801     --    16.0
3. Despereaux      10.5   3,104   -    3,385     --    10.5
4. Earth Stood     10.2   3,560   2    2,851    -67    48.6
5. Four Xmases      7.75  3,515   4    2,203    -41   100.2
6. Twilight         5.23  2,991   5    1,748    -34   158.5
7. Bolt             4.26  2,968   5    1,434    -43    95.0
8. Slumdog          3.15    589   6    5,348     45    12.1
9. Australia        2.33  2,212   4    1,051    -44    41.9
10. Quantum         2.15  1,874   6    1,147    -42   161.3



To contact the reporters on this story:
Michael White in Los Angeles at 
mwhite8@bloomberg.net;
Cynthia Cotts in New York at 
ccotts@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 21, 2008 15:45 EST