In a rare change from last weekend, every film in this weekend’s top ten is not only retaining its spot for a second week in a a row, but most of them actually improved their earnings over last weekend. There were no new wide releases, but Blue Valentine and Another Year did rather well in limited release with each earning over a $20,000 per theatre average. Besides the success of Little Fockers, the 2010 Box Office went out on a high note.
Box Office Estimates
December 31, 2010 – January 2, 2011
1) Little Fockers (3,554 theatres)
ESTIMATE: $26.3 million
It’s disappointing that a brainless threequel finished the 2010 Box Office at number one, but True Grit made up some significant ground on it and will likely pass it next weekend at this rate.
2) True Grit (3,083 theatres)
ESTIMATE: $24.5 million
This film managed to beat out Little Fockers in per theatre average, but due to fewer screens it did not surpass the film. It is quickly moving towards $100 million and will end behind Inception and Toy Story 3 as the 3rd highest grossing Best Picture nominee (assuming all three of those get in).
3) Tron Legacy (3,365 theatres)
ESTIMATE: $18.31 million
The film increases its total gross to over $130 million, which is actually quite good. It’s probably not the kind of money that Disney was hoping for, but with Toy Story 3 and Tangled already with big earnings in 2010, the studio should be just fine.
4) Yogi Bear (3,515 theatres)
ESTIMATE: $13 million
Even though this film hasn’t done horribly and Little Fockers has done pretty well I’m glad that Americans haven’t completely eaten up the end of the year garbage. However, the film will probably do well enough on DVD/Blu-Ray to inspire similar garbage dumps to come from studios in the years to follow.
5) The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2,948 theatres)
ESTIMATE: $10.5 million
This film lost more theatres this weekend than any of the other films in the top ten and it still managed to increase its total over last weekend. It still will barely break $100 million, and has done a nice job of making this franchise pretty forgettable.
6) Tangled (2,582 theatres)
ESTIMATE: $10.01 million
In its sixth week, this is the longest running film that is still in the top ten and at over $160 million in cumulative gross, it is also the highest earning. It is undoubtedly going to dominate the DVD/Blu-Ray sales when it hits shelves in a couple of months, but for now it can still be chalked up a success.
7) The Fighter (2,534 theatres)
ESTIMATE: $10 million
The 5th, 6th, and 7th place films were all within a half million and could easily swap spots when the actuals come in tomorrow afternoon. The Fighter and Black Swan are fighting to see who can be the 5th best earning Best Picture probability with Black Swan slightly ahead and The Fighter making up much ground over the past few weekends. At the current pace it looks like The Fighter might be the one that will finish on top.
8) Gulliver’s Travels (3,089 theatres)
ESTIMATE: $9.1 million
They haven’t officially released the budget for this film, but I sincerely hope that it was not more than $50 million. I’m actually tempted to see it for how awful it looks. It’s like a car crash – hard to look away.
9) Black Swan (1,553 theatres)
ESTIMATE: $8.45 million
Above I mentioned that The Fighter will probably pass Black Swan in total Box Office, but it’s worth mentioning that it won’t be due to lack of Black Swan success. The film has actually been dominating The Fighter in per theatre average, but due to far fewer screens.
10) The King’s Speech (700 theatres)
ESTIMATE: $7.65 million
There are currently 4 likely Best Picture nominees in the Box Office top ten. That does not happen all that frequently.
[Source for Estimates: Box Office Mojo | Image: OutNow!]