Natalie Portman continues to impress, as she has not one, but two films in the top ten this week.  The romantic comedy No Strings Attached, featuring Portman and Ashton Kutcher, nabbed the top spot at the box office over the weekend by selling about $20.3 M in tickets. The film is directed by Ivan Reitman, and is the first movie starring Portman to win the box office since 2006, when she starred in V For Vendetta. It attracted a mostly female audience, typical for a romantic comedy.

Black Swan, the psychological thriller, was her second film to place in the top ten. Coming in at number six, the movie picked up $6.2 M in its eighth week in release, bringing its box office total to $83.5 M. If the film picks up a few Oscar nominations (announced on Tuesday morning), it is sure to continue a steady march toward $100 M.

Last week’s winner, The Green Hornet, dropped off 46% from its opening week total.  It came in at number two this week with $18 M, bringing its two week total to $63 M.  It was a costly production to make ($120 M) so it still needs to sell quite a few seats to earn back its budget.

The Dilemma had an almost identical drop off, and made an additional $9.7 M. The King’s Speech is now in its 9th week of release, and only dropped 2% from last week. This is another film that will surely enjoy a boost from multiple Oscar nominations on Tuesday.

True Grit came in at number five with $8 M, making it the second highest grossing western of all time (Dances With Wolves holds the record).  The Housemaid, Barney’s Version, The Company Men, The Illusionist, and Another Year all fared nicely in limited release.

Despite some tepid reviews, Green Hornet ran away with the top spot this weekend.  The Seth Rogan comedy/action hybrid made about $34 M, which is good enough to be the third highest January opening ever. About 69% of the film’s take was from 3D screens. It was a pricey film to make ($110 M), so it will need to build on its opening weekend momentum.

Vince Vaughn’s latest film The Dilemma made about $17 M, placing it solidly in second place. True Grit only dropped 23%, and made an additional $11 M.  This $38 M film just passed the $125 M mark.  Kind of reaffirms your faith in movie audiences, doesn’t it?

If that tidbit of intel warms your heart, then wait for the next news: we had a trifecta of terrific movies occupying the top five this week.  In addition to True Grit, The Kings Speech and Black Swan had great weekends.

The King’s Speech actually surged 41% in its eighth week in release for a cool $9 M. It is still playing on less than 1600 screens, so those are some impressive numbers. Very quietly, the film has made $44 M to date.

Black Swan has also done remarkably well. Made on a shoestring budget of $13 M, Natalie Portman’s star vehicle now totals almost $73 M in box office receipts, without a 3D screen in sight. Gwyneth Paltrow has not been as lucky. Her movie Country Strong fell completely out of the top ten this week, coming in at number twelve. In four weeks, the movie has only made $13 M.

Barney’s Version opened on only four screens, but it managed to make $17,925 per/screen.

It’s the cycle of nature. Every year, the studios serve their finest for the holidays, projects chock full of high tone and blue chip casts. This year there was the usual deluxe assortment: literary adaptation (True Grit), drug addiction (The Fighter), madness and artistry (Black Swan), and physical disability, historical drama and royalty (The King’s Speech).

Then comes January. The good stuff runs out and they bring out the cheap wine, hoping we’re too drunk to notice. So we get the likes of Country Strong, Season of the Witch, The Green Hornet and The Dilemma.

Starring the peculiarly charmless Vince Vaughn as Ronny and Kevin James (The King of Queens) as Nick, his purported bosom buddy/business partner/mechanical genius (more on that later), The Dilemma also features as Jennifer Connelly (Beth) and Winona Ryder (Geneva) as their respective love interests, both actresses dark-haired, kohl-rimmed, wraith-thin and hard-faced.

Of course it’s totally preposterous that either woman would ever go out with the likes of Vaughn or James, and pigs will scrapbook before we see the likes of Jude Law movie-dating the likes of America Ferrara (the only female star under 50 who comes to mind who’s remotely overweight). But hey, that’s the glorious misogynistic magic of Hollywood.

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To be honest, we don’t know a lot about director Ron Howard’s latest film The Dilemma. Sure, it stars Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Jennifer Connelly and Winona Ryder and looks to be pretty funny, but you just never know.

Fortunately, to help decide if this one’s worth a look we’ve got a brand new trailer for the film to share with you (and us) today. In it, Vaughn’s character discovers that his best friend (James) doesn’t really have the perfect marriage after all when he sees the man’s wife with someone else. Yes, that someone else is tanned and tattooed Channing Tatum. But hey, what are you gonna do?

Actually, that’s the question that plagues Vaughn in the film: What is he going to do? Does he tell his friend or let it go? Quite a dilemma. See what I did there?

The Dilemma is scheduled to hit theaters in January 2011. Check out the trailer after the jump.

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