Dark tron headline – Box office: “Tron: Legacy” races to top with $43.6 million

– First the good news. “TRON: Legacy” raked in some thoroughly respectable numbers opening weekend, pulling in $43.6 million.

But now, let’s cue a wet raspberry sound. The 21st century revisit of the 1982 sci-fi flick “Tron” owned the box office during its debut. Though analysts expected the Disney publicity machine to propel Legacy to the No. 1 spot, science fiction’s limited appeal led most analysts to project the film would take in $40 million. “How Do You Know,” the big-budget, star-laden romantic comedy from James L. The CGI-assisted, live-action romp “Yogi Bear” debuted in second place, although it lagged far behind “Tron.” The contemporary take on the beloved kids cartoon, which features voice-over performances from Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake as the mischievous partners in picnic-basket-snatching Yogi and Boo Boo, nabbed $16.7 million. As openings go this year, the massively hyped sequel to an obscure 1982 movie failed to crack the top-10, and observers have said it will need to rely on strong overseas business to break even. According to reports, the effects-laden update cost $170 million to make, and more than $100 million to market worldwide. And with a budget more than 10 times the 1982 original, the new filmmakers “could do some incredible things,” says Steven Lisberger, writer and director of the original. The Darren Aronofsky film, pirouetting into the No. 7 spot, jumped to 959 theaters this weekend with an impressive $8.3 million haul. (Consider that “Black Swan,” which cost just $13 million, already has a cumulative gross of $15.7 million in three weekends of limited release.

For the next year Disney was pretty hush-hush about the project. “How Do You Know” cost north of $100 million, and at this rate will be lucky to make a quarter of that back in domestic grosses.) Oh “Yogi Bear,” you hoped more friends would show up to the picnic. Slowly, it became apparent that the movie wasn’t a pipe dream. I had the pleasure of attending Comic Con each of the last two years.

The film’s total estimated tally now stands at $42.7 million. Critics trashed the film, which has occupied the attention of two Disney studio regimes in recent years. But at least it’s slightly better than “Marmaduke’s” fate, which opened in June to just $11.6 million. “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” headed south to No. 3 with $12.4 million, bringing its cumulative two-week gross to $42.7 million. The weekend number kicks the film’s total estimated haul to about $30.8 million dollars. The film, which features Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as rival ballerinas, expanded to 950 theaters from 18. The fantasy film has earned $42.8 million in 10 days.

But the Time Warner Inc unit said it hoped the Christmas holiday would boost business among the film’s core family audience. This year’s domestic box-office sales total $10.07 billion, up 1.24 percent from a year earlier. The Tourist , the thriller starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp , was fifth with $8.7 million. As the trailers played, I forgot about all the bad reviews and allowed my excitement to build. If you’re like me and you loved the original, I believe you’re going to enjoy “Tron: Legacy.” Writing reviews of films, books, comics, etc. is not always easy. As a teacher, I constantly remind my students not to write what happened but use examples to show me why you liked/disliked the story. Together they battle a duplicate of the elder Flynn, who plans to invade the Earth with his program army.

Check back here next week for big Christmas weekend results. “True Grit” and “Little Fockers” open nationwide on Wednesday, December 22, with “Country Strong” hitting in limited release.

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