Weekend Receipts: Merry Focking Christmas
Not even being a cinematic lump of coal could stop Little Fockers from topping the tepid Christmas weekend box office; the threequel was the film of choice for people trying to get away from their families. Meanwhile, Jeff Bridges owned the second and third slots on the charts, proving that he's the new Johnny Depp. (If only!) Pour yourself that final glass of eggnog and click ahead for some weekend receipts.
1. Little Fockers
Gross: $34,016,000 ($48,302,000)
Screens: 3,536 (PSA: $9,620)
Weeks: 1
"[S]tudios are finally and fully conceding that moviegoers, armed with Facebook and other networking tools and concerned about escalating ticket prices, are holding them to higher standards," wrote Brooks Barnes in the New York Times over the weekend. "The product has to be good." Or it has to be Little Fockers.
2. True Grit
Gross: $25,600,000 ($36,818,000)
Screens: 3,047 (PSA: $8,402)
Weeks: 1
Retribution...for Barnes and people with good taste. The $25.6 million start for True Grit marks the Coen brothers' best opening weekend ever. If you feel like looking ahead, not only should Grit become the highest grossing Coen Brothers film ever, but it could also become the first straight-up Western -- read: one that doesn't include Will Smith and sci-fi -- to cross $100 million since Unforgiven.
3. Tron:Legacy
Gross: $20,107,000 ($88,296,000)
Screens: 3,451 (PSA: $5,826)
Weeks: 2 (change: -54.3%)
To paraphrase Britney Spears, Tron: Legacy is not a hit, not yet a bomb. The sequel no one really wanted will top $100 million with relative ease (and could hit $150 million), but the prohibitive price tag will likely prevent another sequel. Unless Disney runs out of ideas in another 28 years.
4. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Gross: $10,800,000 ($64,929,000)
Screens: 3,350 (PSA: $3,224)
Weeks: 3 (change: -12.8%)
Nothing says Christmas like the Jesus Lion.
5. Yogi Bear
Gross: $8,800,000 ($36,785,000)
Screens: 3,515 (PSA: $2,504)
Weeks: 2 (change: -46.4%)
Nothing says Christmas like a farting bear.
7. Gulliver's Travels
Gross: $7,200,000 (new)
Screens: 2,546 (PSA: $2,828)
Weeks: 1
The good news? Gulliver's Travels only opened on Saturday, so it would have hit the top-five if it had another day in theaters. (Sorry, Yogi!) The bad news? This stinker is a huge bomb, one that Fox saw coming from miles away. Some people were chatting that Travels marks the end of Jack Black, which is true...until he's hiring people off Craigslist to help count his money from Kung Fu Panda 2.
[Numbers via Box Office Mojo]