#1. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” ($31 million)
#2. “Four Christmases” ($13.3 million)
#3. “Twilight” ($8.01 million)
#4. “Bolt” ($7.51 million)
#5. “Australia” ($4.29 million)

20th Century Fox may have had a weak year at the box office — but “The Day the Earth Stood Still” came through for them over the weekend, grossing $31 million domestically, and $70 million worldwide.

Then again, it was an easy weekend for “Earth,” with only two new films to compete with — Freddy Rodriguez and John Leguizamo’s “Nothing Like the Holidays,” which came in at #7 with $3.5 million, and the animated “Delgo,” which brought in a sad $915,840, and didn’t even crack the top ten.

While some music sensations plunge into movies with fanfare, Courtney Love was as hot as hot could be on the music scene, but decided not to take the spotlighted route of Madonna and Whitney Houston, instead easing her way into the medium with independent pictures. After a handful of small roles, the lead singer of the group Hole found herself in the spotlight when Milos Forman cast her as Althea Leasure in the biopic "The People vs. Larry Flynt" (1996).

While some music sensations plunge into movies with fanfare, Courtney Love was as hot as hot could be on the music scene, but decided not to take the spotlighted route of Madonna and Whitney Houston, instead easing her way into the medium with independent pictures. After a handful of small roles, the lead singer of the group Hole found herself in the spotlight when Milos Forman cast her as Althea Leasure in the biopic "The People vs. Larry Flynt" (1996).

A whisper-thin, raven-haired beauty of TV and film, Courteney Cox first registered with audiences when she was plucked from the crowd by Bruce Springsteen in the Brian De Palma-directed video for The Boss' hit 1984 single "Dancing in the Dark". Work for the prestigious Ford Modeling Agency and appearances in Noxzema and Maybelline commercials (among others) and a bit part on the CBS soap "As the World Turns" preceded the video, after which she snagged a regular role in the short-lived primetime series "Misfits of Science" (NBC, 1985-86). Cox then joined the cast of the hit NBC sitcom "Family Ties" for the final two seasons (1987-89) as the brainy girlfriend of Alex P Keaton (Michael J Fox). She made the leap to the big screen, appearing in the little-seen caper film "Down Twisted" and the children's sci-fi epic "Masters of the Universe" (both 1987), and "Cocoon: The Return" (1988), none of which registered much with critics or audiences.

A whisper-thin, raven-haired beauty of TV and film, Courteney Cox first registered with audiences when she was plucked from the crowd by Bruce Springsteen in the Brian De Palma-directed video for The Boss' hit 1984 single "Dancing in the Dark". Work for the prestigious Ford Modeling Agency and appearances in Noxzema and Maybelline commercials (among others) and a bit part on the CBS soap "As the World Turns" preceded the video, after which she snagged a regular role in the short-lived primetime series "Misfits of Science" (NBC, 1985-86). Cox then joined the cast of the hit NBC sitcom "Family Ties" for the final two seasons (1987-89) as the brainy girlfriend of Alex P Keaton (Michael J Fox). She made the leap to the big screen, appearing in the little-seen caper film "Down Twisted" and the children's sci-fi epic "Masters of the Universe" (both 1987), and "Cocoon: The Return" (1988), none of which registered much with critics or audiences.

A handsome, dark-haired Irish actor with an intense screen presence, Colin Farrell shot to fame in the USA as a cagey army recruit with a penchant for troublemaking in "Tigerland" (2000). Like so many actors who seem to achieve overnight stardom, the Dublin-born actor had paid his dues with film and TV roles. Raised in the Castleknock section of Dublin, this son of a soccer player admits to a somewhat rebellious youth, attending several schools and indulging in beer drinking. After spending a year in Australia, he returned to Ireland and enrolled at the Gaiety School of Acting but left after a year when his career began to take off. Farrell landed his first film role in "Drinking Crude" (1997) and the following year had a supporting role in the period TV drama "Falling For a Dancer" (aired in the USA on Romance Classics). He then landed the regular role of Danny Byrne on the popular Irish series "Ballykissangel", which he played for two seasons.

Trying to cast the lead role of Mel Coplin, an adoptee searching for his biological parents in the wake of his own son's birth in the comedy "Flirting With Disaster" (1996), writer-director David O. Russell knew what he wanted: "a young Dustin Hoffman type, who was kind of urban, kind of smart and ethnic." Ben Stiller, the only son of the venerable husband-and-wife comedy team of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, convinced Russell that he could fill the bill. Increasingly busy before and behind the camera, the curly-haired, quirkily handsome actor-writer-director seemed well poised to become the poster boy for Generation X era comedy--regardless of his stated discomfort with such a designation. With decisive roles played by nepotism, "Saturday Night Live" and MTV, Ben Stiller's swift career trajectory may be somewhat paradigmatic to those for whom the name "Barrymore" evokes "Drew" before "John" or "Lionel".

Like many of her fellow models, sultry Angie Harmon made the transition to acting landing the leading role of private detective Ryan McBride on the syndicated series "Baywatch Nights" (1995-97). The only child of models, the Dallas-born beauty actually began her career as a newborn, appearing in a hospital-made film "How to Give Your Baby a Bath". As she matured, Harmon continued to work as a local model moving to a national stage at age 15 when she was named the winner of Seventeenmagazine's cover model contest.

A petite blonde actress with pretty, pixiesh features and a high energy presence, California native Amanda Detmer made her debut in the TV-movie "Stolen Innocence" (CBS) in 1995. A local girl (the project was lensed in her native Chico), Detmer impressed with a featured role in the telepic, but resumed her education, earning her BA and later her MFA in theater. In 1998 she spent a summer on stage in Minneapolis and that same year lensed a starring role in the mystical independent drama "Last Seen".

 An intense, precise and authoritative performer, Alec Baldwin went from being an often uninspiring leading man to being a highly sought-after character actor, whose breezy charm and sharp comic timing allowed him to often elevate mediocre fare. Born on April 3, 1958 in Amityville, NY and the eldest male in a brood of six that included actors Daniel, Stephen and William as well as non-actors Carol and Elizabeth Baldwin was interested in politics prior to acting, attending Georgetown University where he studied political science and ran a failed campaign for student body president.