By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As Hollywood pundits get ready for the Golden Globe Awards (news - web sites) Sunday night, moviegoers across North America sent the new comedy "Kangaroo Jack" hopping into the No. 1 spot at the holiday weekend box office.

The family caper sold an estimated $17.7 million in tickets in its first three days of release, while the Martin Lawrence (news) comedy "National Security" opened at No. 2 with $15.7 million.

The romantic comedy "Just Married," last weekend's champion, slipped to No. 3 in its second round with $12.5 million. "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" appeared to have the edge over "Catch Me If You Can" for the No. 4 slot: $11.4 million vs. $11.3 million.

The studios will issue four-day estimates Monday, when America observes the birthday of Martin Luther King, with final data due out Tuesday.

The top 10 contained two other new entrants. The romantic comedy "A Guy Thing" opened at No. 7 with a disappointing $7.1 million. After three weeks of limited release, "The Hours" went into moderate release and jumped 13 places to No. 9 with a $4.7 million haul.

"The Hours," a literary saga starring Meryl Streep (news), Nicole Kidman (news) and Julianne Moore (news), could get a major boost from the Golden Globes, which are often considered a rough guide to Oscar success. The film is competing in seven categories, one behind event leader "Chicago," which was No. 6 at the weekend box office with $8.0 million.

Other major Globe contenders also firing up the box office include the Jack Nicholson (news) comedy "About Schmidt" at No. 8 with $6.3 million and the period epic "Gangs of New York, which earned $4.1 million, tying at No. 10 with "Two Weeks Notice." Both "Schmidt" and "Gangs" have five nominations each.

The "Lord of the Rings" sequel has two nominations, while "Catch Me If You Can" has one. The Golden Globes ceremony begins in Beverly Hills at 5 p.m. PST.

"Kangaroo Jack," which follows two crooks who chase a kangaroo that makes off with their wad of cash, is perhaps most notable for one of its screenwriters -- Steve Bing, the Hollywood playboy who fathered Elizabeth Hurley (news)'s baby boy.

The $60 million film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc, and executives were confident they had a hit on their hands.

"National Security," a mismatched-buddy comedy pairing Lawrence and Steve Zahn (news) as security guards, also generated enthusiasm among executives at its studio, Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp (news - web sites).

The third new movie, "A Guy Thing" was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. The $20 million film stars Jason Lee (news), Julia Stiles (news) and Selma Blair (news).

After two weekends in release, "Just Married" moved up to a $34 million total. The nuptials nightmare, starring Ashton Kutcher (news) and Brittany Murphy (news), was released by Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.'s Fox Entertainment Group Inc.

The "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" has grossed $299 million after five weekends. The film was released by AOL Time Warner's New Line Cinema unit, which is also handling "About Schmidt" ($30 million after three weeks in moderate release).

The Leonardo DiCaprio (news) crime caper "Catch Me If You Can," with $135 million banked after four weekends, was released by privately held DreamWorks SKG.

"The Hours" has clocked up $7.4 million after four weeks; it was released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc .

Walt Disney Co.'s Miramax Films unit released both "Chicago" and "Gangs of New York," whose respective totals rose to $27.7 million and $61 million.

Reuters/Variety

LOS ANGELES(Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the Jan. 17-20 Martin Luther King holiday weekend, according to studio figures released Tuesday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Four-day Cumulative

1. Kangaroo Jack .......... $21,895,483

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $21,895,483

2. National Security .......... $16,813,517

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $16,813,517

3. Just Married .......... $13,771,777

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $35,329,299

4. Catch Me If You Can .......... $12,524,998

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $36,318,125

5. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers .......... $12,503,990

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $300,122,052

6. Chicago .......... $9,744,060

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $29,403,704

7. A Guy Thing .......... $8,006,232

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $8,006,232

8. About Schmidt .......... $6,822,657

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $30,639,435

9. The Hours .......... $5,739,165

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $6,428,972

10. Two Weeks Notice .......... $4,716,308

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $85,611,004

Reuters/Variety

John L.:  The movies reaching number one this year are very odd.  Somehow, Kangaroo Jack has a following.  The preview was somewhat funny, but it screamed this movie sucks.  Thank goodness for low budgets.  A Guy thing had a weak preview and a weak opening.  I got dragged to it, so a full review follows.

Whoo hoo, did this movie blow. What the hell is going on here? Television sitcom scripts are getting passed off as full featured 90 minute films. Why? Can't people see that a plot about a guy who wakes up in bed with a strange woman and finds out it is the cousin of his fiancée is a plot waiting for Jack Tripper to stumble over. This is strike 2 for perennial Kevin Smith movie actor, Jason Lee. "Stealing Harvard" was his first solo starring role that bombed, and A Guy Thing is his second. Give Lee 20 minutes spread over 2 hours in a supporting role and he dominates. He is the only good thing in such overhyped flicks as "Almost Famous" and "Vanilla Sky." Due to his great work in movies like Mallrats and Chasing Amy, studios thought that Lee could carry a screwball romantic comedy. He probably can, but as with everything that has to do with making movies, a good script is the first thing that must be acquired. Four people worked on A Guy Thing to make a coherent story, and what happens is there are at least 3 things going on that are connected, but still seem to not be occurring in the same film. There is the plot, the plot that relates to the title, and the several deleted scenes that will make up the special features section of the DVD to be released shortly. The plot begins with Lee's character, Paul, at his bachelor party afraid to expose himself to the dancing tiki girl entertainment. He manages to talk to one of them, Becky, played by Julia Stiles. One thing leads to your mother and they somehow wake up next to each other the next day in bed with no recollection of what position or positions they may have slept or not slept in. It seems that Becky is the cousin of Karen, played by Selma Blair. The problem is that Karen plans to marry Paul in the next few days, and what will she do if she finds out her finance has just had one night stand sex with her beloved cousin. Oh the dilemma! So, the rest of the movie is Paul trying to keep his dirty little secret away from Karen. Watch the hilarity ensue. Predictability has never been so predictable. The second plot is the one that refers to the title, and this part is actually somewhat interesting and if it had been fleshed out, it could have been something special judging by the reaction of the audience when it was fully explained. A guy thing in concept is the idea that every guy is supposed to have any other guy's back when it comes to relationships with the opposite sex. For example, if a girlfriend calls her boyfriend's best friend to ask him if he is cheating on her, the best friend is to say no even if the boyfriend is. Throughout the movie there are little incidents where guys have to lie to Karen to protect Paul's secret. This protection is a guy thing and girls would not understand. I guess girls are too catty to have anything known as a "girl thing." One of these guy thing moments is quite funny, and almost saved the picture for me when I realized what it was trying to do, but alas, it was not enough. The guy thing moments seem to be written by writer #3 while the main plot is controlled by writers 1 and 2, while the fourth guy gets to make sure Larry Miller doesn't ad lib too much. Speaking of Larry Miller, he is the best thing in the movie as a minister who finds out Paul's secret and itches to just reveal it to the world. Miller channels his "Gary Marshall movie" like madness to this role and steals every scene he is in with just a casual glance. Julia Stiles is not very good in the movie mainly because her character is underwritten. There are hints of her being a wild child, but none of it pans out to anything out of the ordinary. She is just an average girl looking for work. Selma Blair is also very uninteresting in her part as well. A Guy thing is very mediocre and should have had its gimmick punched up a bit and less "Three's Company" plot. Final Review: 1 1/2 stars out of 5; 4 out of 10; C-; thumbs down.

The year continues to be a downer at the movies. But things could change.  Bye for now.