The commercially underwhelming comedy "Little Fockers" narrowly retained its lead at the North American box office during the holiday weekend, as Hollywood's prolonged slump spilled over into the new year.
According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, "Little Fockers" earned $26.3 million during the three days beginning December 31, followed by "True Grit" with $24.5 million, and "Tron: Legacy" with $18.3 million. The movies, all either sequels or remakes, were unchanged in rank from last weekend.
"Little Fockers," the third entry in the dueling in-laws franchise starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro, has earned $103.2 million after 12 days. Its predecessor, "Meet the Fockers," released exactly six years earlier, had pulled in almost $163 million after the same period.
The Jeff Bridges Western remake "True Grit," one of the few hits of the holiday season, has earned $86.8 million also after 12 days. But with a $38 million budget, the Coen brothers' drama cost about one-third of "Little Fockers," and is expected to hold up well as awards season plays out.
Overall sales fell for the eighth consecutive weekend compared with the year-ago period, when business was driven by such hits as "Avatar" and "The Blind Side."
The weak performance brought the curtain down on a disappointing year for Hollywood, when higher prices for 3D movies failed to offset a decline in attendance.
The number of movie tickets sold in 2010 slid about 5.4 percent from 2009, according to box office analysts at Hollywood.com. It marked the biggest percentage drop since 2005 when attendance tumbled 8.1 percent.
Overall ticket sales were flat at about $10.6 billion, marking the first time since 2008 that sales failed to improve upon the previous year, Hollywood.com said. The flat picture came as the studios charged moviegoers an extra few dollars each for the privilege of seeing films ranging from the hit "Alice in Wonderland" to the bomb "Piranha" in 3D.
0 comments:
Post a Comment