Merry Box Office for Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson

Marley & Me tops Christmas Day openers with record $14.5 mil; Tom Cruise's Valkyrie gets buried a bit

Memo to Tom Cruise: Next time, get a cute, cuddly Lab.

Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston's dogploitation flick, Marley & Me, bowed yesterday with an estimated $14.5 million, a new record for a Christmas Day opener, Exhibitor Relations said today.

Brad Pitt's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button scored $11.8 million in its debut, while Adam Sandler's Bedtime Stories bowed with $10.5 million.

Cruise's Valkyrie seemed to be the odd film out among the A-list Christmas openers. The Nazi thriller ran fourth with $8.5 million. Its per-screen average, however, was higher than that of Bedtime Stories, which played at nearly 1,000 more theaters.