Weekend Box-Office: December 17-19, 2010

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

WEEKEND BOX-OFFICE

Tron
kicks Yogi Bear’s arse…!!

TRON: LEGACY was finally
released this past weekend (seems like we’d been plugging the film
forever on the site) and scored a sizeable opening with
$44M over its first three days of release. Not that you can really
compare the “sequel” to its predecessor, but when the
original TRON was released back in 1982, it opened with only $5M
and finished up with $33M at the end of its entire theatrical
run! The new film still has a way to go though, as it
apparently cost around $170M to put together (and another $100M to
market worldwide).

Only time will let us know if
this strong opening was mostly made of geeks who won’t be
returning to see it 10 times in theaters, or if the film will have
a more general appeal with a diverse audience. Last
year at this time, a little film called AVATAR was released and
opened with $77M and ultimately went on to make $760M when all was
said and done (the highest
grossing domestic movie of all-time, in case you weren’t yet
aware).

The two other new film openings
didn’t fare as well with YOGI BEAR making only $17M in its first
weekend of release, although that film may continue to bring in
the dollars over the holidays. It too was pretty expensive to put
together though, with a final budget of around $80M. The other
movie that opened this weekend was entitled HOW DO YOU KNOW and it
had about as little appeal as any film I’ve seen released this
year. I mean, even with 4 “name stars” above its title,
the movie just looked “blah!” to me and apparently
everyone else as well, as it opened in 8th place with only $8M in
receipts. There’s a good chance that it actually gets bounced out
of the top 10 next week. Wow. I guess that’s what happens when you
take so much time off, Reesey!

The other two interesting films
in the top 10 were THE FIGHTER, which after an amazing limited
release went “wide” this past weekend, but didn’t blow
the box-office charts away. At least not yet. THE FIGHTER might be
the kind of film that “picks up” steam over the holidays
though, as the positive word of mouth continues. The other film
that followed in similar footsteps was Darren Aronofsky’s BLACK
SWAN which also increased the total number of theaters in which it
was shown this weekend, although not by as many as THE FIGHTER
(SWAN was showing in about 950 theaters versus FIGHTER’s 2,500
theaters). That said, BLACK SWAN had the 2nd highest “average
per theater” figure in the top 10, after TRON: LEGACY ($12k
versus $9k).

The latest HARRY POTTER flick
dropped like a rock from 4th to 9th place this weekend, while the
latest NARNIA flick also dropped from 1st to 3rd place, losing
close to 50% of its audience from last weekend in the process. The
4 films to get kicked out of the top 10 this weekend included
BURLESQUE ($35M), DUE DATE ($97M), LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS ($30M) and
MEGAMIND ($142).

Next weekend sees the release
of the final batch of “holiday” movies including the
latest (and worst-looking) installment in the MEET THE PARENTS
franchise called LITTLE
FOCKERS (keep milking that one-trick joke, guys…sigh), as
well as the latest interpretation of GULLIVER’S
TRAVELS starring Jack Black this time around. The film that
we’re all stoked about at JoBlo.com headquarters is the latest
Coen bros movie called TRUE
GRIT. There are already 4
reviews for the film on MOVIE FAN CENTRAL and the average
score is 9/10 so far. Not too shabby. So what film do you think
will be #1 next weekend? VOTE
NOW!!!

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