In January, people like to go and see uplifting films that help them escape the wintry gloom that surrounds them. Or films about Jack Nicholson dying, one or the other.

Because that's what The Bucket List is about, and The Bucket List is currently the top movie at weekend box office. It's not difficult to see why The Bucket List did well at the US weekend box office – it's basically a remake of Cocoon, but one where all the old people die at the end instead of getting zapped up by aliens.

And, really, who can honestly say they they weren't a little disappointed when all the old people didn't die at the end of Cocoon.

The Bucket List is number one at the US weekend box office, thanks to its winning mix of effortless star power – between them, Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson have played presidents, God and a sort of werewolf thing – and the enduring appeal of movies about terminal cancer patients learning important lessons about themselves.

The Bucket List is also the reason why Jack Nicholson had a crazy bald head at last year's Oscars, which will come as a profound disappointment to anyone who was hoping that he was preparing to play Skeletor in some sort of live-action He-Man film. Here's this week's US weekend box office top five…

1 - The Bucket List (The weekend box office success of The Bucket List just goes to show that Jack Nicholson doesn't need to perform alongside a horrific-looking dildo to win fans over. However, that hasn't stopped him from signing up for his next movie, tentatively entitled Dildo And The Dildos On The Planet Of The Dildos) $19.540,000

2 - First Sunday (From the 10 seconds of First Sunday we've bothered to watch, we get the impression that it's about Tracey Morgan running around in his pants and screaming and nothing more. So that's us sold) $19,000,000

3 - Juno (On the basis that Juno is the new Napoleon Dynamite, we can look forward to Ellen Page's next role where she'll star as the friend of a ditzy ghost played by Reese Witherspoon that's by all means terrible) $14,000,000

4 - National Treasure: Book Of Secrets (Does anyone know what secrets are in this special book yet? We're hoping that they'll include how to do power serves on Wii Sport, what animal Barbara Windsor's hair comes from and who put the ram in the ramalamadingdong. Otherwise we're not going to watch it) $11,482,000

5 – Alvin And The Chipmunks (Make it stop. Just someone, please, make it stop) $9,100,000

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Weekend Box Office – Box Office Mojo