'Little Fockers' dips in a strong post-Christmas weekend

By Sarah Sluis

Only during the holiday season can seven out of the top ten films post gains over the previous weekend. The top three films all fell from their lofty heights, but the rest of the top ten increased 10-70% from last week. Little Fockers maintained its lead, but fell the furthest, 14%, to $26.3 million. Compared to Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers, this sequel both opened lower and is falling faster. Could this be the end of the Focker clan?

True Grit dipped just 1% to $24.5 million, narrowing the gap between the western remake and the comedy sequel. The Coen Brothers' latest has already exceeded the total gross of their previous western, No Country for Old Men, and it's fairly certain that True Grit will pass the $100 million mark, a first for the multi-hyphenate team.

The rest of the top ten was populated by family films and awards contenders. The broad, four-quadrant film Tron: Legacy grabbed third place with a 4% fall and another $18.3 million in the bank. Yogi Bear came next with $13 million, a 65% gain from the previous weekend, followed by The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which went up 10% to $10.5 million. Tangled, which has been out for a month and a half, posted a 55% gain and $10 million, a well-deserved bump for this top-notch animated film. Gulliver's Travels, which opened to just $7 million, got up to $9 million in its second week, but I'd still call it a flop.

Among specialty films, The Fighter filled the most seats ($10 million), followed by the kinda campy Black Swan ($8.4 million) and lively historical tale The King's Speech ($7.6 million).

After an alarmingly small debut last week (an $8,650 per-screen average), Country Strong made a rare second-week rebound, earning $21,500 per screen on its two-screen release. The drama will move into wide release this Friday, so perhaps its weak first-week finish was the result of miscalibrated marketing.

The Ryan Gosling/Michelle Williams un-romance Blue Valentine made an impressive debut with a $45,000 per-screen average. The high average validates the film's position as an awards contender and puts it on the path to successful expansion. Director Mike Leigh's slice-of-life tale Another Year unspooled in six locations, earning an average of $20,000 at each. Somewhere and The Illusionist, both limited releases in their second week, each improved their per-screen averages, to $17,900 and $16,900 per-screen, respectively.

This Friday, Country Strong will be joined by Season of the Witch, Nicolas Cage's second occult-themed wide release after last summer's The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

'Blue Valentine' and 'Another Year' make their end-of-the-year debut

By Sarah Sluis

Plenty of audiences should turn out for the final box-office weekend of the year, but that will still leave numbers for 2010 down as a whole. Blockbusters like Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland and Iron Man 3 attracted audiences to the tune of $300-400 million, but the number one film of 2010 was a 2009 release: Avatar. James Cameron's blue-tinged alien film earned $476 million in the 2010 half of its release, putting it $50 million above Toy Story 3.

Yesterday, two specialty films bowed in order to qualify for consideration at this year's awards season. The English director Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky) turns out the thoughtful Another Year (six theatres), which shows him in a "mellow, seasonal mood," according to critic David Noh. This is the kind of film that requires a bit of effort to get through, but Leigh creates incredibly true-to-life characters with spot-on dialogue with psychological complexity.

One of my top ten films of 2010, Blue Valentine released yesterday in four theatres with an R rating, the result of a successful appeal of the MPAA's original decision to brand the movie with an NC-17. Critic Erica Abeel called the story of a couple falling out of love "remarkable for its honesty and power." Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling star opposite each other, and both were nominated for acting Golden Globes, a sign that they may also turn up in contention for Oscar statuettes.

With many out for winter holidays, the weekday box office has been strong. On Monday, many films dropped under 10%, compared to the 70-80% seen during non-holiday weeks. In fact, many kid-driven titles saw gains over Monday and Tuesday. The adult comedy Little Fockers is still in first place but has also dropped the most. There's a chance Tron: Legacy may take the lead over the weekend. True Grit has staked out third place, and specialty films like Black Swan, The Fighter, and The King's Speech have moved into the top ten.

Screener will be dark tomorrow, and resume for a box-office recap on Monday. See you in 2011!