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Adorable dog movies are the new Animals Eating People=$$$.

David Mumpower: Marley & Me, the Jennifer Aniston/Owen Wilson puppy love comedy, won the weekend with $37.0 million over the weekend and a record Christmas Day result of $14.7 million. Please explain this.

Joel Corcoran: Marley & Me seemed like it would be the "consensus choice" for holiday getaways this week and weekend. Bedtime Stories was probably a more popular choice for families with kids and teenagers, but Marley & Me had a snarky, more "adult" feel to it (even though both movies were rated PG). In a group setting, Marley & Me might not be anyone's top choice, but it's at least one of those movies where a lot of people are inclined to find it good enough to go along with. I think that is one important factor. Another is that Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston is a much better comedic duo than Adam Sandler and Keri Russell, which I guess we'll get to in a little bit.

Scott Lumley: I got nuthin'. The box office over the last two weekends has been completely bonkers and every film that I think looks like it should romp all over the box office has done the polar opposite of what I expected. If you told me that over the Christmas weekend Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson and a labrador retriever would be stomping all over the box office, I think I would have laughed pretty hard. My only guess here is that possibly the viewing public wanted something lighthearted and funny over the Christmas weekend and gave this one a shot as opposed to some of the films that headed off into other more extreme (Bedtime Stories, Seven Pounds, Yes Man...) or ridiculous (The Spirit) directions.





Sean Collier: The dog is the draw, I think. Anyone who's seen the gigantic puppy displays in a theater lobby over the last six months can testify that at least one person walks by cooing "Awwww, how adorable," every minute. In the words of Waylon Smithers, "People love dogs." And when you give them something seemingly more mature than Hotel For Dogs or Beverly Hills Chihuahua, they'll show up.

Reagen Sulewski: I'm not afraid to say I'm mystified by this. "Look! A dog misbehaves and does bad things! Let's go twice!" Unless it was that teaser trailer with Jennifer Aniston running in slo-mo for 100 minutes. Then I could understand that.

Daron Aldridge: I think a lot of people have tapped into this already by pointing out the "feel good" nature of the film. It's mindless fluff and appeals to people at the holidays. The legs are actually somewhat questionable to me because I have heard from more than one person that the PG rating was misleading because of the language for a movie clearly marketed toward kids with the puppy front and center. We'll see if I am the only one hearing that word-of-mouth.

Jamie Ruccio: A cute dog and Jennifer Aniston, who's been everywhere with puppies and nudity makes for this result. I agree with most everything that's been said previously. It was the right film for the adult holiday audience.

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