The Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn romcom Four Christmases opened with a sizable $46.7m (£31.1m) helping of the US box office at the weekend, while Baz Luhrmann's Australia proved the Thanksgiving turkey.
The $130m (£86.5m) epic, which stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, is the most expensive film ever to be shot in Australia. It crawled to just $20m (£13.3m) in its first five days, enough to hand it fifth place. The result represents a crushing disappointment for Luhrmann and his team, who at one point had been hoping their film might yield Titanic-level returns.
Instead it was Seth Gordon's perky festive comedy about a couple struggling to visit each of their divorced parents in one day that reigned supreme, while last week's champion, the teen vampire romance Twilight, garnered another $39.5m (£26.3m) in its second week in the runner-up's spot.
In third place was the animated tale Bolt, featuring the voice of John Travolta. The film achieved the rare feat of performing more successfully in its second week than in its first, with a haul of $36m (£23.9m) this time around.
The latest James Bond adventure, Quantum of Solace, completed the top five. Marc Forster's film took fourth spot with an excellent $28.1m (£18.7m) in its third week of release.
There were two more entries this week. The Jason Statham action sequel Transporter 3 tumbled in at number seven with $18.5m (£12.3m) on debut, while Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic Milk, about the first openly gay US politician to achieve public office, landed in 10th spot with $1.8m (£1.2m). It is likely to pick up a larger audience if, as expected, it goes on to do well in the awards season.
Fox executives put a brave face on Australia's disappointing return, which was not helped by a lengthy running time and lukewarm reviews. Set in northern Australia before World War II, the epic tale centres on an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch. She must reluctantly make a pact with a stock-man to protect her new property from a takeover plot.
"We are ecstatic," said Fox senior vice president of distribution, Chris Aronson. "These are great opening numbers for an adult film, and this is such a bold, unconventional film."
