LOS ANGELES — An unusual alignment of top stars brightened Hollywood’s holiday box office as Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Adam Sandler, as well as Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson and a dog, pushed new movies to strong openings. (…)

Still, the weekend’s most significant victory may have been scored by Tom Cruise, the director Bryan Singer and the distributor MGM with their “Valkyrie,” which for the last year has been chewed over as one of the most difficult bets in the movie marketplace.

The film, in which Mr. Cruise plays a German officer who tried to kill Hitler, placed fourth for the holiday with $21.5 million in sales for the three days and about $30 million since opening on Christmas.

“We’re really happy here,” said Erik Lomis, who oversees worldwide film distribution for MGM. Mr. Lomis said the film, currently playing in about 2,700 theaters, will probably add locations this week as it capitalizes on strength in midsize markets where Mr. Cruise’s star power is helping it keep pace with films for which prospects seemed brighter. (…)

(Source: NY Times)