As we thought it would,
Little Fockers focked over the rest
of the competition on Wednesday, coming in at the top spot but still
pulling in under expectations with only $7.2 million, according to early estimates.
Maybe last-minute reshoots, Dustin Hoffman being added in
post-production, and pretty uniformly unenthusiastic reviews affected
people’s desire to see Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro awkwardly battle
each other for a third time. The comedy will have to perform very well
throughout the rest of the elongated weekend in order to meet
Universal’s predictions. It almost certainly won’t do as well as
Meet the Fockers,
which opened in nearly identical conditions six years ago and ended up
raking in over $70 million for the full Christmas weekend.
Those using the box-office battle of
True Grit vs.
Little Fockers as
a referendum on America’s cultural future should take some hope: The
Coen Brothers Western performed above expectations, managing a healthy
$5.5 million, placing it just below
TRON: Legacy, which is now
in its second week. The neon-techno blockbuster sequel managed to keep
its light-bikes going strong, and its cumulative gross is now up to $62
million. Without a doubt, the final month of 2010 belongs to Jeff
Bridges.
Rounding out the last two spots in Wednesday’s top five are family films
Yogi Bear and
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader with $2.9 and $2.5 million, respectively. After another expansion,
Black Swan continues to dance its crazed pas de deux of success, hitting No. 7 and
pulling its total take so far past the $20 million mark.
1.
Little Fockers: $7.2 mil
2.
TRON: Legacy: $5.6 mil
3.
True Grit: $5.5 mil
4.
Yogi Bear: $2.9 mil
5.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: $2.5 mil*Posted it at WD2 as well since I don't even know if this is going down...
