Disney's animated¹ version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol has topped the North American box office chart in its first weekend on release.

迪斯尼动画版的查尔斯·狄更斯的作品《圣诞颂歌》北美上映第一周就冲击到票房排行榜首位。

Carrey voices a number of characters, including the miserly Scrooge (r)

However, its $31m (£18.5m) haul（用力拖拉，努力的结果） was less than some had expected it to make in cinemas in the US and Canada.

According to Disney, nearly three-quarters of A Christmas Carol's sales came from cinemas showing it in 3D.

Jim Carrey plays the miserly Scrooge in the film, which uses a hi-tech form of animation² called motion capture.

Last week's top movie, Michael Jackson concert documentary This Is It, fell to second place in this week's rundown（报告，总结）.

According to studio estimates, the film - constructed from rehearsal³（彩排，排练） footage shot shortly before the singer's death in June - made $14m (£8.3m) between Friday and Sunday.

Urban drama

That put it narrowly ahead of George Clooney's military comedy The Men Who Stare At Goats, whose $13.3m (£7.9m) takings saw it occupy third place in the chart.

Alien abduction（诱拐） thriller⁴ The Fourth Kind took a fitting fourth place with admissions totalling an estimated $12.5m (£7.4m).

That put it ahead of two other horror movies, Paranormal Activity at five and The Box at six.

Low-budget shocker Paranormal Activity continues to surprise the industry, its weekend takings of $8.6m (£5.1m) pushing its overall tally⁵ close to $100m (£59.6m).

But The Box, a supernatural（超自然的，神奇的） thriller starring Cameron Diaz, performed disappointingly, making a lacklustre（无光泽的，呆滞的） $7.9m (£4.7m) in its first weekend in cinemas.

The weekend's most impressive performer was Precious, a hard-hitting urban drama about an abused high school student.

Despite opening in just 18 cinemas in four US cities, the film - which features singer Mariah Carey in a supporting role - took a promising⁶ $1.8m (£1m).