Friday Box Office.: Soft Starts for 'Christmas Carol,' 'Goats'

By Daniel Frankel With release activity at the domestic box office heating up for the holidays and the awards season, Friday saw soft openings for Disney’s expensive 3D stop-motion-animated “A Christmas Carol” and Overture’s ensemble satire “The Men Who Stare at Goats.” Universal, meanwhile, seemed to benefit from the current public interest in verite-style sci-fi/horror, with paranormally themed “The Fourth Kind” enjoying a better-than-expected premiere. Also, Lionsgate awards hopeful “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire&rd..;. (link)