Friday Box Office: Massive 2012 Quake Rocks Multiplex

Roland Emmerich has once again wrung a blockbuster out of the apocalypse, as 2012 blew out all projected estimates with a fantastic Friday gross over $23 million. That cast a pretty lengthy shadow over virtually all the weekend competition with the notable exception of Precious, which continued last week's dominating performance with $2 million on only 174 screens. That was good enough for third place right below Disney's A Christmas Carol, which slid a not-too-bad 37 percent off its opening weekend pace. George Clooney's Men Who Stare at Goats was not so lucky. Check out that and the rest after the jump.

2012: $23,300,000 (new)

DISNEY'S A CHRISTMAS CAROL: $5,600,000 ($46,600,000)

PRECIOUS: $2,000,000 ($4,800,000)

THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS: $1,900,000 ($19,100,000)

THE FOURTH KIND: $1,700,000 ($17,600,000)

THIS IS IT: $1,500,000 ($63,600,000)

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: $1,500,000 ($101,100,000)

COUPLES RETREAT: $1,400,000 ($99,300,000)

LAW ABIDING CITIZEN: $1,200,000 ($64,600,000)

THE BOX: $1,100,000 ($11,100,000)