‘Little Fockers’ leads the Christmas box office – Why do I suddenly feel stupid

Little Fockers led the box office over the three-day Christmas weekend, taking in a healthy $34 million, according to studio estimates. Those two films have collected nearly $850 million worldwide. The comedy “Little Fockers” led the Christmas weekend box office in the U.S. and Canada, taking in $34 million in ticket sales for Universal Pictures. “True Grit,” the Western drama from directors and brothers Joel and Ethan Coen , opened in second place with $25.6 million for Paramount Pictures, researcher Hollywood.com Box- Office said today in an e-mailed statement. The Fockers are still the king of the busy holiday box office as “Little Fockers” had a pretty good start, but the Coen brothers’ “True Grit” was surprisingly close on their heels. The third installment of the Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro series of in-law comedy was to earn $34 million over the three-day weekend, and $48.3 million since opening on Wednesday, according to studio estimates Sunday. Ticket revenue fell for a seventh consecutive weekend, narrowing chances that 2010 box-office sales will exceed last year’s record $10.6 billion, Paul Dergarabedian , president of Hollywood.com’s box-office service, said in an interview. “Little Fockers” is the third film in the series about two incompatible families linked by marriage. The second big story was the impressive debut of the Coen bros.’ “True Grit” with $36.8 million.  That was more than enough to knock “Tron Legacy” to third with $31.8 million and $88.3 million to date.  “Grit,” a potential Oscar contender, was only expected to gross $25-30 million for the frame it could easily hit $100 million by mid January. “Little Fockers” opened to a studio-estimated $48.3 million from its Wednesday opening through Sunday, not bad but well behind the $70.5-million launch of its predescessor, “Meet the Fockers,” on the same dates in 2004. Though the opening of the PG-13 family comedy starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro was softer than expected based on pre-release surveys going into the weekend, “True Grit” topped expectations. Coming in third was TRON: Legacy , the sequel to the 1982 sci-fi cult favorite TRON . Time will tell whether the seasonal spirit will carry its legs across ever-thinning ice, but for now, to be the no 1 movie over Xmas at the box-office is at least focking something to celebrate, as well as having bagged just under $50 million since Wednesday. Another Oscar frontrunner, “The King’s Speech,” had its first major expansion to 700 theaters on Christmas day and found a strong $4.6 million for a new cume of $8.4 million. Sofia Coppola’s Hollywood drama “Somewhere” opened in limited release with $196,168 in just seven theaters for a per screen of $28,024 since Wednesday.

“Little Fockers,” which adds kids to the mix, received overwhelmingly bad reviews but still lured moviegoers. Little Fockers finished No. 1 in Spain ($3.3 million from 323 locales), No. 3 in France ($3 million from 484 locations) and No. 2 in Germany ($2 million from 650 spots).

Drifting aimlessly at 4, Voyage of the Dawn Treader trawled another $10.8 million to add to a sparse catch of $63.9 million on an encouraging decline of only 12.8%.  Perhaps the only reason that holds water as to why it hasn’t fared better is that why should audiences pay more to see in 3D the sequel to a second part no-one liked? The film also stars Jeff Bridges, as a programmer who has remained in the cyber world for two decades. The film expanded to 700 theaters on Christmas Day, taking in $4.6 million over the holiday weekend. Final figures for this holiday weekend are due Monday.

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