'Fockers' won a meager first-place prize, while 'True Grit' blasted its way to second place.
By Josh Wigler
Ben Stiller in "Little Fockers"
Photo: Universal Studios/DW Studios
'Tis the season to be jolly, but while the holiday spirit was present in millions of households this past weekend, it wasn't felt with nearly as much fanfare at the movies.
It was a fairly quiet weekend at the box office this holiday season, with Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro's "Little Fockers" leading the pack with an estimated $34 million from Friday through Sunday and a five-day total of $48.3 million. But while Jack still has his eye on Greg, few people entered the circle of trust this go-around, as "Fockers," the second sequel to the critically acclaimed "Meet the Parents," failed to match the success of its predecessor "Meet the Fockers," which earned $70.5 million in its first five days in 2004.
Indeed, the second-place showing for "True Grit" was more impressive than the first-place "Fockers" in many respects. For one, the Jeff Bridges-starring Western drew $36.8 million since opening on Wednesday of last week, nearly crushing its entire $38 million production budget in a single session. "True Grit" also marked the single-best opening for any Coen brothers movie to date, easily surpassing the $19.1 million "Burn After Reading" earned in 2008.
"Tron Legacy" remained on the gaming grid this weekend with a third-place finish worth $25.6 million. The movie suffered a steep 54 percent drop from its opening performance last weekend, leaving some to wonder whether Disney's decision to revitalize the science-fiction franchise was a sound one.
The weekend's biggest disappointment was Jack Black's "Gulliver's Travels," which debuted Saturday and ended the weekend in seventh place with $7.2 million. Releasing the film on Christmas Day was a risky gamble on Fox's part, and despite the message that "Gulliver" has to offer, size really does matter when it comes to business, and unfortunately for the studio, the opening numbers on "Gulliver" are simply too small to consider the film anything but a flop.
The Box-Office Top Five
#1 "Little Fockers" ($34 million)
#2 "True Grit" ($25.6 million)
#3 "Tron Legacy" ($20.1 million)
#4 "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" ($10.8 million)
#5 "Yogi Bear" ($8.8 million)
Upcoming Releases
It's going to be another quiet weekend at the box office next week, with smaller-budget dramas "Another Year" and "Blue Valentine" sneaking in as the weekend's only new releases with a combined total of 10 theaters between the two of them.
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