Actually, that headline hasn’t been proved – Yes Man could have topped the weekend box office for any reason – but we’re just being logical.

Actually, come to think of it again, we do know why Yes Man topped the weekend box office – nostalgia. A movie where Jim Carrey isn’t blatantly gunning for an Oscar or playing a cackheaded number-obsessed maniac is a throwback to his golden age.

That means the weekend box office success of Yes Man sends a clear message to Jim Carrey – that message is ‘Dance, monkey-boy, dance! Pull a funny face! Ha ha, look at stupid monkey-boy Jim Carrey’s funny face!’

The box office success of Yes Man, we’ll admit, is a bit of a shock. This is for two reasons: 1) Will Smith had a new film out this weekend, and Will Smith films always enter the weekend box office at number one and 2) we didn’t expect that anyone would want to see Yes Man because you can pick up Liar Liar for pennies in the bargain bins of most DVD stores now and it’s THE EXACT SAME FILM.

But, still, if watery remakes of his former glories are what people want, then watery remakes of his former glories are exactly what Jim Carrey’s going to give them, starting next year with The Number 73, a remake of The Number 23 where Jim Carrey becomes obsessed with the mid-1980s Sandi Toksvig-hosted ITV Saturday morning kid’s TV show and goes on a stab rampage. And it’ll be all your fault. Here’s the US weekend box office top five…

1 – Yes Man (Aside from being Jim Carrey’s biggest hit in forever, Yes Man also marks the start of Danny Wallace‘s tenure as Hollywood hot property. We can now look forward to seeing the movie adaptations of his other books, such as Join Me, Random Acts Of Kindness and Other Arbitrarily-Chosen Sunday Newspaper Magazine Feature Ideas Padded Out To Fill An Entire Godforsaken Paperback Stocking Filler) $18,160,000

2 - Seven Pounds (Look at this – Will Smith’s first flop movie for as long as we can remember. What could have caused this? The vague premise? The way the title steals from 21 Grams in an obscenely shameless way? Will Smith’s recent links with the Church Of Scientology? No. It’s the fact that Will Smith doesn’t rap the theme-tune. Will, if you’re reading, you have time to change this before the European release. And remember, ‘Seven Pounds’ rhymes perfectly with both ‘release the hounds’ and ‘I want to hump your sexy mounds.’ Bill us accordingly, Will) $16,000,000

3 - The Tale Of Despereaux (‘Despereaux’ is, of course, the French for ‘Desperately ripping off Ratatouille‘) $10,507,000

4 - The Day The Earth Stood Still (Slipping down the weekend box office because, gee, standing still is so boring. The Day The Earth Did A Bodypop While Catching Peanuts In Its Mouth? Now that’s a hit!) $10,150,000

5 - Four Christmases (Humbug) $7,745,000

Read more:

Weekend Box Office – Box Office Mojo

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