Disney (NYSE: DIS) soared to the number-one spot this past weekend with its new Pixar project, Up. The computer cartoon grossed roughly $68 million at domestic theaters as of early estimates, according to Boxofficemojo.

Disney took a lot of thunder away from News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and its Ben Stiller comedy/fantasy Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. That movie dropped to second place, taking in about $25 million.

It was a busy weekend at the box office. The Memorial Day holiday period is a time when studios try to set a good financial tone for their summer slates.

And it looks like News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS) is the winner. The media company's Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian project, starring Ben Stiller, grossed an estimated $53 million at domestic multiplexes over the past three days according to Boxofficemojo. That was a good performance. The first Night at the Museum took in $30 million in its first three days of release back in Christmas 2006.

I was surprised that News Corp. came out on top. Did anyone out there think that Terminator Salvation, from Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), wouldn't be number one?

This post is part of our feature on Money Winners of 2008. See all 20.

Johnny Depp is one quirky thespian. Whether he's playing a Gothic mutant with scissors for hands, a sadistic throat-slitting barber, or one wacked-out pirate who sounds a lot like a drunken guitarist from one of the greatest rock 'n roll bands of all time, Depp works overtime to extract as much weirdness from a part as he conceivably can so he can present a compelling performance to paying audiences at the local multiplex. And he gets paid pretty well for his services.

In fact, he's set to earn multiple millions of dollars to appear in a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie. That's right, if you thought Disney (NYSE: DIS) was thinking of stopping at the third one (like maybe it should), then you turned out to be wrong. It's difficult to say exactly how much Depp will make from the next Pirates adventure. The Movie Blog claims that the number is as high as $75 million. I've read other reports that confirm this figure, but I've also read speculation that the value relates more to the potential of his earnings power in terms of gross participation, merchandise, etc. In other words, it might be reasonable to assume that Depp will earn as high as $75 million if Pirates 4 is a huge box-office hit on the level of its predecessors. He may, however, receive a lesser amount upfront. I believe the latter to most likely be the case based on the way Hollywood works. We unfortunately will never know the specific details because the SEC does not require public media companies to report talent compensation (in my opinion, they should). No matter what, though, he'll be grossing a lot of bucks when he returns as Captain Jack Sparrow.