Disney’s Tron Legacy easily topped the weekend box office with an estimated $43.6 million, while Warner Bros.’ hybrid live-action/animated Yogi Bear only managed a middling debut with an estimated $16.7 million.  But solid performances from holdovers plus a major increase in the number of theaters for Paramount’s The Fighter and Fox Searchlight’s Black Swan boosted the total of the top ten films to the point where it was down just 1% from 2009 when Avatar opened with $77 million, and up a mammoth 61% from 2008 when Yes Man debuted.  Few in Hollywood would have predicted a near tie with Avatar's debut frame.

Given the fact that the original 1982 Tron film was never a mainstream success, there was considerable skepticism in Hollywood concerning the prospects for Tron Legacy.  But with a $43.6 million debut, the $150 million production is off to a strong start.  The film scored a solid “B+” CinemaScore with opening weekend audiences that were predominantly male (66%) and over 18 (75%).  Tron Legacy’s strong bow also reinforces the power of 3-D—three dimensional showings accounted for 82% of the opening weekend gross, with IMAX 3-D venues providing 24% of the total.  One sign that Disney's extensive marketing campaign was effective, Tron Legacy sold two-and-one-half times as many tickets as on its opening weekend as its1980s predecessor.

Yogi Bear may well be “smarter than the average bear,” but the Yogi Bear movie was decidedly mediocre in its appeal, falling well short of the grosses earned by the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies.  The Jellystone Park epic averaged just $4,752 per venue with 3-D venues providing 52% of the movie’s total take.  53% of the opening weekend audience was male with 52% under 25.   The main hope for Warner Bros.’ $80 million production is that it will be able to attract more kids once they get off school for Christmas vacation.

Fox’s attempt to revive the Chronicles of Narnia franchise, which got off to a slow start last weekend, showed some signs of life as The Voyage of the Dawn Treader dropped just 48% in its second frame as the film earned an estimated $12.4 million and finished in third place.

Close behind was Paramount’s “R-rated” The Fighter, which added 2,500 theaters and vaulted to fourth place with an estimated total of $12.2 million.  53% of weekend audience for The Fighter was female, while 87% was over 25, though 50% was in the demographic sweet spot (24-34).

Like The Fighter, Darren Aronosky’s ballet thriller Black Swan lost some of its per-theater luster when Fox expanded it from 90 theaters to 959, but it still managed the second highest average ($8,655) in the top ten. 

Black Swan came in ahead of the James L. Brooks romantic comedy How Do You Know, which opened disappointingly in 2,483 venues, averaging just $3000 and collecting just $7.6 million.  The opening audience for How Do You Know was mostly female (60%) and older (55% over 30). 

Mention should be made of Tangled, Disney animated adaptation of Rapunzel, which dropped less than 40% in its fourth weekend in spite of the fact that it has now lost almost all of its 3-D venues.

The competition for holiday season box office success really heats up next week as three potentially big films, the comedy sequel Little Fockers, the Coen Brothers’ adaptation of True Grit, and a contemporary Gulliver’s Travels starring Jack Black, all debut for Christmas weekend.