Wednesdays crazyness – Tron: Legacy Downloads Top Spot at the Box Office

Having the movie in 3D and in IMAX 3D would certainly help boost the grosses, but no one was sure as to by how much. While no one was expecting Tron to match Avatar ($77 million a year ago this weekend), hopes were high that this film would at least clear the $50 million mark in its first three days.

The high-tech adventure, which stars Jeff Bridges and Garrett Hedlund, rang up $43.6 million in ticket sales. The 3-D animation/live-action hybrid “Yogi Bear” started with a soft but not terrible $16.7 million. Debuting on 3,515 screens to middling results in second place was Warner’s live action 3D comedy Yogi Bear with $16.7 million. “How Do You Know,” the big-budget, star-laden romantic comedy from James L. “Black Swan” grossed $8.3 million, a particularly impressive figure as it was playing at only 959 theaters, less than half the number of any other film in the top ten. Off 49%, the film took in $12.4 million from 3,555 screens for a ten-day take of approximately $43 million. 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. The studio had expected on opening weekend to get fanboys who remembered the 1982 original. While the film’s domestic gross may be a letdown, the foreign market is anything but: the first weekend’s take for the film overseas was a huge $83 million. “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. In fourth place after a one-week limited engagement was Paramount’s critically acclaimed drama The Fighter, knocking out $12.3 million off 2,503 screens. Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp’s glossy thriller “The Tourist” landed in fifth place.

That’s a far cry from Squeakquel numbers, the “Alvin & the Chipmunks” period piece that opened to $48.8 million on last year’s Christmas weekend. The country-hopping caper, which was filmed in France and Italy and also features Paul Bettany, scored $8.7 million during its second weekend on screens. The film was nominated for six Golden Globe awards, including best film drama and best actor in a drama for Wahlberg. “The Tourist,” a thriller starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, was fifth with $8.7 million. Initial foreign grosses were a little more troublesome for Disney. “Tron” took in a so-so $23 million from 26 foreign markets, but bad weather in Europe left the studio hopeful the film would recover for a strong foreign run. Check out everything we’ve got on “Tron Legacy,” “Yogi Bear” and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. The holidays should give the comedy a second wind that could help bring its domestic total into the $170-175 million range. Sales for the weekend’s top 12 films fell 1.8 percent to $127.5 million from a year earlier, according to Hollywood.com. But any prospects for it to be a breakout smash in the “Alvin and the Chipmunks” mode already have been dashed. Mark Wahlberg ‘s drama The Fighter continues to do well in limited release. It earned $12.2 million on 2,500 screens, good for fourth place, and lifted its total to $12.6 million in two weekends. “How Do You Know” will be a big money loser for Sony Pictures, which spent more than $100 million to produce the James L. The film cracked the Top 50 chart of all-time grossing films this weekend, surpassing 2002’s Chamber of Secrets in the process.

Rounding out the top ten was Fox’s Unstoppable which added $1.8 million to its $78 million total.

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