Little Fockers Still Strong At The Box Office.

          Last weekend moviegoers rang in the new year by flocking to the same films as last weekend with the star-driven comedy Little Fockers leading the way once again and the Western hit True Grit following closely in second place. Most films enjoyed sales increases over the previous frame which was hampered by Christmas Eve falling on Friday and a blizzard slamming the east coast on Sunday. The top ten jumped 11% versus last weekend, but fell a sharp 33% from a year ago.


          Universal was on top once again with the Robert De Niro-Ben Stiller comedy sequel Little Fockers which laughed up $25.8M in its second session, according to final studio figures, sending the total over the century mark to $102.6M in only 12 days. The decline was 16% which represented the largest fall of any film in wide release. Not surprisingly, the drop was slightly more than the 10% dip that Meet the Fockers witnessed on the same frame six years ago when the calendar was identical. The new Fockers is currently running 37% behind its predecessor. Little could end its run in the $160-170M range.

          Holding steady in second place was the Western remake True Grit which grossed $24.4M lifting its 12-day total to a stellar $86.7M quickly becoming the top-grossing film ever for the Coen brothers. Their previous career high was $74.3M for the Oscar-winning No Country For Old Men and they hardly ever break $50M with any film. Produced for only $38M, the Jeff Bridges-Matt Damon period film was almost even with Christmas weekend and eased by a scant 2%. Grit could remain strong even after the holidays and find its way past the $150M mark for Paramount making it one of the most profitable titles of the holiday season.

          TRON: Legacy followed in third with $18.8M, off 2%, boosting the 17-day cume to $131.3M. Budgeted at $150M, the Disney effects extravaganza looks on course to end its run with $160-170M from North America putting it just outside of the top ten list of 2010 blockbusters. It has done exceptionally well in IMAX venues which have accounted for roughly 25% of the total gross despite the limited number of screens. Overseas, the action pic has hauled in $110M for a global tally of $241M so far.

          More PG-rated films in 3D followed. Yogi Bear enjoyed a sturdy 58% jump to $12.4M for fourth place posting healthy numbers after a sluggish start two weeks ago. With $65.8M to date, the Warner Bros. pic will try to end its run around the $90M mark. Fox's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader rose 8% to $10.3M for a total of $86.9M thus far. Look for a final tally in the $100-110M range with more than double that amount from overseas markets. Domestic grosses for the first two Narnia films were $291.7M for 2005's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and $141.6M for 2008's Prince Caspian.

          Following closely were Paramount's acclaimed boxing drama The Fighter with $10M and Disney's animated hit Tangled with $9.8M. The Rapunzel toon shot up 53% and has banked an impressive $167.8M to date on its way to about $190M. It currently ranks as Disney's top-grossing non-Pixar toon since 1999's Tarzan which did $171.1M. The Mark Wahlberg film The Fighter enjoyed a 32% increase this weekend and has taken in a solid $46.4M. Look for at least $70M with the cume going much higher if it scores big at the Golden Globes or with Oscar nods.

          Fox has struggled with its Jack Black offering Gulliver's Travels which has been shoved to the side by a long list of competitors. This weekend it grossed $9.3M in its first Friday-to-Sunday frame after bowing last Saturday on Christmas Day for a nine-day cume of only $27.5M. A disappointing $40-45M final may result. Making more than that already, awards entry Black Swan from the studio's specialty division Fox Searchlight collected $8.9M this weekend, up 42%, for a $47.8M take so far. Like Fighter, the road ahead could be a long one depending on how events during awards season broaden appeal. But a minimum of $70M seems likely.

#	Title	Dec 31 - Jan 2	Dec 24 - 26			Weeks		Cumulative	Distributor
1	Little Fockers	$ 25,766,485	$ 30,833,665			2		$ 102,576,190	Universal
2	True Grit	24,416,515	24,830,443			2		86,670,382	Paramount
3	TRON: Legacy	18,756,973	19,151,498			3		131,304,844	Buena Vista
4	Yogi Bear	12,385,000	7,897,342			3		65,755,336	Warner Bros.
5	The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage...	10,252,775	9,478,043			4		86,926,397	Fox
6	The Fighter	10,005,066	7,580,116			4		46,388,853	Paramount
7	Tangled	9,803,091	6,427,816			6		167,821,986	Buena Vista
8	Gulliver's Travels	9,300,099	6,307,691			2		27,454,506	Fox
9	Black Swan	8,881,595	6,254,986			5		47,807,791	Fox Searchlight
10	The King's Speech	7,775,463	4,484,352			6		22,932,401	Weinstein Co.
11	The Tourist	6,625,759	5,371,896			4		54,633,191	Sony
12	Harry Potter/Deathly Hallows Part 1	4,651,699	3,176,348			7		283,533,215	Warner Bros.
13	How Do You Know	4,547,420	3,548,965			3		25,040,894	Sony
14	Megamind	630,940	356,859			9		144,192,018	Paramount
15	Unstoppable	524,921	329,895			8		79,468,486	Fox
16	The Social Network	464,543	281,088			14		93,222,026	Sony
17	Burlesque	444,238	338,101			6		37,733,561	Sony
18	Due Date	424,119	378,227			9		99,231,922	Warner Bros.
19	Red	289,720	197,833			12		89,505,187	Summit
20	127 Hours	284,373	190,258			9		10,434,435	Fox Searchlight