The Scrooge flick came in a bit below the $10.2M Friday bow of Bee Movie which was 2007's early November animated film. Comparing Christmas movies released in the first half of November, Carol played just like 2003's Elf which debuted with $9M in 2003 on its way to a $31.1M opening weekend. Tickets were less expensive six years ago and the Will Ferrell hit had no 3D surcharges to help boost its numbers, though, so it reached a larger crowd. Animated films and kidpics released at this time of year generally make 27-29% of their opening weekend tallies on Friday so A Christmas Carol should find its way to about $31-34M this frame.

The supernatural thriller The Fourth Kind scared up an estimated $5M in business on Friday in its first day in multiplexes. Marketed to the Paranormal Activity audience, the Universal release looks to scare up $12-14M this weekend.

Overture took in an estimated $4.5M for its new military-themed saga The Men Who Stare at Goats and should be on course for $13-14M over three days. The Cameron Diaz-led thriller The Box bowed to an estimated $3M on Friday and is set to collect roughly $8M for the weekend for Warner Bros.

Opening weekend averages for the four new releases should end up at around $9,000 for Carol, $6,000 for Goats, $5,000 for Kind, and $3,000 for Box.

Among holdovers, Friday-to-Friday declines were 45% for This Is It and 53% for Paranormal Activity.

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For a NEW review of A Christmas Carol visit The Chief Report.

Check back on Sunday for the complete weekend box office report.