Strong holiday box-office results at the movies bucked the recession, giving a solid boost to two studios with a lot riding on expensive new films. The four-day weekend's top slot went to 20th Century Fox's "Marley & Me," with $51.7 million in U.S. ticket sales.

The successful weekend wrapped up an otherwise mediocre year in ticket sales. Total grosses for the year stand at $9.55 billion, down 0.9% from last year, according to Media By Numbers.

The scene would have been even more grim were it not for higher ticket prices; attendance is down by more than 5%. Meanwhile, Hollywood also is starting to feel a decline in DVD sales and is bracing for a possible strike by actors.

Two of the weekend's big releases -- News Corp. unit Fox's "Marley & Me," based on the best-selling book of the same name, and "Bedtime Stories," a family-targeted Adam Sandler comedy from Walt Disney Co. that took in $38.6 million -- were seen as relatively safe bets for the studios that made them.

Two other studios, Paramount and MGM, had more at stake with their Christmas releases, however.

For effects-laden "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Viacom Inc.'s Paramount spent at least $150 million, a lot for an adult drama, co-financed with Warner Brothers. "Valkyrie," from MGM's United Artists label, dramatizes the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and was seen as a test of the studio and star Tom Cruise, both of whom are trying to regain traction with moviegoers.

"Button" brought in an estimated $39 million for the four-day weekend, higher than many in Hollywood expected for the nearly three-hour movie. "Valkyrie" grossed $30 million for the weekend, far above early estimates. Nevertheless, both films remain financial risks for their studios, which mounted expensive marketing campaigns and will closely monitor performance throughout the coming weeks.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.'s MGM has struggled to find financing for new films recently and is looking for partners. "Valkyrie" became an important test of the studio's ability to market and distribute a movie. That partly is why the studio spent more than $60 million to market the $75 million picture, hoping to attract attention even during the crowded Christmas movie season.

"If you are going at Christmas, you have to spend like the big boys or you shouldn't spend at all," said Erik Lomis, head of world-wide distribution for MGM/UA.

The weekend's results gave MGM hope that its bet will pay off. "Valkyrie" came in fourth at the box office this weekend. "We knew opening at Christmas was a big, big gamble, but if estimates hold true, we will probably end up making money off the film," Mr. Lomis said. Overseas box office will likely be almost twice the film's final domestic figure, he said.

The debut of "Button" still puts it a long way from the approximately $300 million in world-wide ticket sales that a person familiar with the matter estimated would be necessary for the film to break even. Paramount expects that as much as half that target could come from the U.S. The movie's strong start indicates that "Button" has a chance to pay off.

"Button" marks an important transition for Paramount. The studio's main success this year has come from collecting flat fees for distributing movies from other entities, such as Marvel Entertainment Inc.'s "Iron Man and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.'s "Kung Fu Panda," rather than producing its own product. While that strategy carries less risk for the studio, it also curtails what the studio would derive from blockbusters.

"Button" is the first of a series of films that Paramount is producing and distributing, with a "Star Trek" movie and "G. I. Joe" to follow next summer. How those films perform will affect the studio's bottom line far more than the movies it merely distributed, especially as the studio for now is operating without a new so-called slate deal, in which an outside entity finances a majority of a studio's pictures.

Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount, said that the studio is shifting toward a new era during which it will develop its own films.

"It was certainly helpful to have product from DreamWorks Animation, Marvel, and DreamWorks to help in the transition toward developing our own product," he said. "Now, when you look to the next six months, we have 'Benjamin Button' with Brad Pitt, we have the relaunch of 'Star Trek' with J. J. Abrams, we have a sequel to 'Transformers' that came out of our relationship with DreamWorks."