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The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 finishes in sixth place. The teen vampire flick fell 45% to $4.3 million this weekend, and has a running total of $266.4 million. For comparison, Eclipse was at $285.5 million at the same point in its trajectory, while New Moon (which opened in a similar calendar configuration) was at $274.6 million after 31 days. Thus, Breaking Dawn Part 1 is lagging slightly behind its predecessors.

Seventh goes to Young Adult, the Charlize Theron starrer directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody (Reitman and Cody had previously teamed on Juno). After debuting to $310,000 in eight theaters, the uncomfortable black comedy expanded to 986 locations this weekend, earning $3.6 million. The $12 million production is a showcase for Theron, and as an awards contender, it’s going end up a profitable film whose quirky nature will make for a polarizing discussion topic in the weeks to come.

Our final three films have been joined at the hip since they opened. Hugo and Arthur Christmas are in a photo finish, as both are reporting totals of $3.6 million (sure, Paramount says Hugo has $25,000 more, but you know some studio suit just put that on their credit card so they could lie up). Hugo’s grand total to date is $39.1 million, while Arthur Christmas’s is $38.5 million. The coming days should be good for both films, but Hugo should have a bit more staying power since it is in awards contention. Finally in tenth is The Muppets, Jason Segel’s love letter to the puppet creatures that have captivated many of us for so long. The Muppets earned $3.5 million and now has a domestic total of $70.9 million, a number that is well in excess of the movie’s budget of $45 million.

Overall this weekend, the box office continues to lag behind last year. The top 12 earned $114.5 million, a decline of 10% from last year’s $127.7 million when Tron: Legacy and Yogi Bear were new in theaters. Still, box office is up almost $50 million from last week’s absolutely pathetic $67.8 million. Christmas week brings The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Adventures of Tintin, We Bought a Zoo, and War Horse, with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol going wide. There’s something for everyone, and the box office results should reflect that fact.

Top Weekend Box Office for 12/16/11 - 12/18/11 (Estimate)
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross	Weekly Change	Running Total
1	Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows	Warner Bros.	40.0	New	40.0
2	Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked	20th Century Fox	23.5	New	23.5
3	Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol	Paramount	13.0	New	13.0
4	New Year's Eve	Warner Bros.	7.4	-43%	24.8
5	The Sitter	20th Century Fox	4.4	-55%	17.7
6	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1	Summit Entertainment	4.3	-45%	266.4
7	Young Adult	Paramount	3.7	+1194%	4.1
8	Hugo	Paramount	3.6	-40%	39.1
9	Arthur Christmas	Sony	3.6	-45%	38.5
10	The Muppets	Walt Disney Pictures	3.5	-51%	70.9
11	The Descendants	Fox Searchlight	3.4	-24%	28.7
12	Jack and Jill	Sony	1.2	-60%	70.5
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations

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