Weekend Wrap-Up

Little Fockers Grits Out Victory

By David Mumpower

December 26, 2010

This picture is so much better than any of the ones available for Little Fockers.

New at BOP:
Share & Save
Digg Button  
Print this column
Rounding out the top five are The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Yogi Bear. The third Narnia feature fell a modest 13% to $10.8 million thanks to the magic of holiday box office inflation. Even with that benefit, its running box office total of $63.9 million would be politely described as modest for a $140 million production. Yogi Bear is suffering a similar fate. Another $8.8 million this weekend, a drop of 46% from its debut, gives the $80 million production current box office of $36.8 million after 10 days. That poor bear will have to declare bankruptcy before he can buy any more picnic baskets. Wait, he steals those, doesn't he? So, this is a fitting fate for a thieving bear.

Sixth and seventh place this week go to one of last week's popular platformers and this week's only Christmas Day debut. The Fighter, which expanded from 4 to 2,503 venues last weekend, held okay but not spectacularly well this weekend with $8.5 million, a 30% decline. The awards contender has respectable current box office of $27.6 million, which is the good news. The bad news is that it looked like it may be on a better pace after last week's impressive expansion.

Finishing in seventh is Gulliver's Travels, which did have the disadvantage of being in theaters for only two days. And yes, that does mean that half of its weekend box office is estimated. Assuming the estimate is sound, the Jack Black comedy earned $7.2 million in two days. Poorly received even by Survivor: Nicaragua contestants who hadn't watched television in a month, Gulliver's Travels has always felt like it was being dumped on the end-of-2010 schedule. And while a 21% fresh rating is not Little Fockers-esque, it does nothing to refute those opinions. This one will have another week of holiday inflated box office then it will join Year One in the Jack Black Should Choose Better Scripts wing of 2000s cinema.




Advertisement



Rounding out the top ten are Black Swan, Tangled and The Tourist. Black Swan has risen as The Fighter has tapered off a bit. Black Swan has a better hold of 21%, giving it a $6.6 million weekend as well as a per-venue average of $4,530 as opposed to The Fighter's $3,385. Then again, in roughly a thousand fewer exhibitions, it should have a higher per-venue average. It's just a data point to note at the moment as we track both films. As for Tangled, it follows the tradition of many Thanksgiving winners that earn a bit of new life during the December holiday season. $6.5 million this weekend represents a decline of only 26% from last weekend, giving the hair-y tale (I'm so, so sorry for that) a running total of $143.8 million. It will cross $150 million by New Year's Eve. As for The Tourist, all of the Golden Globes bribes in the world aren't going to save it. $5.7 million this weekend gives it a running total of $41.2 million, which doesn't even cover the salaries of the leads in this $100 million production. This is a project that looks perfect on paper but alas, movie productions are mercurial. Even Johnny Depp and Angelie Jolie making out won't always prove to be entertaining...at least not in a movie.

Total estimated box office for Christmas weekend 2010's top twelve movies is $142.7 million. This tally is a drop in the box office bucket compared to 2009's $259.9 million. Last year was anchored by two blockbusters in Sherlock Holmes and Avatar, the biggest movie ever. And as I said last week, we have to neutralize comparisons a bit to account for this. Still, the mediocre box office performance of Christmas weekend 2010 is reflective of what was always perceived as a disappointing batch of would-be blockbusters. Even 2008 managed $179.6 million from its top twelve. Since there will be no new releases next weekend, we'll be looking at more of the same over the next seven days.


Top Weekend Box Office for 12/17/10-12/19/10 (Actuals)
Rank Film Distributor Estimated Gross Actual Gross Weekly Change Running Total
1 Tron: Legacy WALT DISNEY N/A $44,026,211 New $44,026,211
2 Yogi Bear $16,705,000 $16,411,322 New $16,411,322
3 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 20th Century Fox $12,400,000 $12,388,662 - 48.4% $42,752,237
4 The Fighter Paramount $12,200,000 $12,135,468 +3945.0% $12,569,403
5 Tangled Walt Disney Pictures $8,676,000 $8,775,344 - 38.8% $127,918,276
6 The Tourist Touchstone Pictures $8,700,000 $8,522,287 - 48.3% $30,613,520
7 Black Swan Universal $8,300,000 $8,383,479 +153.6% $15,791,753
8 How Do You Know SONY $7,600,000 $7,484,696 New $7,484,696
9 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I Warner Bros. $4,845,000 $5,022,361 - 40.8% $265,723,618
10 Unstoppable 20th Century Fox $1,800,000 $1,843,696 - 50.3% $77,386,304
11 Burlesque Screen Gems $1,400,000 $1,425,855 - 55.0% $35,537,765
12 Due Date Warner Bros. Pictures $1,310,000 $1,262,257 - 51.1% $97,327,179
  Also Opening/Notables
  Rabbit Hole Lionsgate $55,000 $53,778 New $53,778
  The Tempest $53,500 $56,076 + 32.1% $119,129
  I Love You Phillip Morris Freestyle Releasing $150,000 $147,188 - 3.9% $521,699
  The King's Speech The Weinstein Company $1,074,987 $1,097,131 + 85.4% $2,936,959
  Love and Other Drugs 20th Century Fox $1,070,000 $1,111,878 - 62.7% $30,201,141
  Megamind DreamWorks Animation $668,000 $690,573 - 72.7% $141,641,535
Click here for all weekend data
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
Continued:       1       2

     


 
 

Need to contact us? E-mail a Box Office Prophet.
Friday, April 26, 2024
© 2024 Box Office Prophets, a division of One Of Us, Inc.