LOS ANGELES - 'MARLEY & ME,' a canine comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, led the North American box office for a second weekend on Sunday, becoming the first Christmas holiday picture to hit $100 million (S$146 million).

Twentieth Century Fox's adaptation of the bestselling John Grogan memoir about a lovable Labrador retriever earned $24.1 million during the three days beginning on Friday, taking its 11-day haul to $106.5 million.

It marks Aniston's second consecutive $100 million-plus movie, following 2006's 'The Break-Up', which finished with $118.7 million.

The rankings of the top seven pictures were unchanged from last weekend as no new films opened in wide release.

The Adam Sandler family comedy 'Bedtime Stories' was No. 2 with $20.3 million, and a total of $85.4 million.

Aniston's former husband Brad Pitt followed with the ageing-backward fable 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', which earned $18.4 million, and a total of $79.0 million. As with 'Marley & Me', they were released on Christmas Day.

A pair of Nazi-themed films opened in two theaters each.

'Defiance', a Jewish resistance picture starring Daniel Craig, earned a strong $121,000 during the weekend, ahead of its national launch on Jan 16. Less promising was the Viggo Mortensen vehicle 'Good', with just $9,300.

Clint revs up 'Gran Torino'
The focus is now shifting to Oscar hopefuls that are preparing to expand into national release as awards season heats up.

Among them are actor/director Clint Eastwood's suburban drama 'Gran Torino', which goes wide on Friday, and actor Mickey Rourke's comeback vehicle 'The Wrestler', which will enter the national ring on Jan 23.

'Gran Torino', which has earned $9.7 million after playing in under 100 theaters for four weekends, will widen to about 2,700 theaters on Friday. Eastwood plays a grizzled widower who takes on neighbourhood bullies.

'The Wrestler', now in 18 theaters, has earned $1.8 million after three weeks. Rourke plays 'an old broken-down piece of meat' reliving his glory days in the ring.

Three pictures making early headway in the awards stakes are already doing strong business: 'Benjamin Button' and 'Doubt', which will each compete for five Golden Globe awards next Sunday, and four-time contender 'Slumdog Millionaire'.

The first major awards ceremony of the year takes place on Thursday, the Critics Choice Awards hosted by the Broadcast Film Critics Assn. 'Benjamin Button' and Sean Penn's gay-rights drama 'Milk' lead the field with eight nominations each. -- REUTERS