A boatload of star power hitched to a popular holiday theme couldn’t manage to scare up much enthusiasm as the top twelve movies only managed to earn a total of $69.7 million, which makes this weekend the second worst frame of 2011 so far.  The multi-character romantic comedy, New Year’s Eve, brought in only a paltry $13.7 million, a far cry from the most recent holiday-themed ensemble movie, Valentine’s Day, which opened with $56.3 million in February.  The only other new movie, The Sitter, an “R-rated” comedy starring Jonah Hill, debuted weakly with an estimated $10 million.  Given the “long-in-the-tooth” nature of the major holdovers and the two paltry debuts, the final totals may well show that this was the lowest-grossing weekend of the year in theaters.

 

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): December 9 - 11, 2011
	Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./ Screen	Total Gross	Wk#
1	New Year's Eve	$13,705,000	3,505	$3,910	$13,705,000	1
2	The Sitter	$10,000,000	2,750	$3,636	$10,000,000	1
3	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1	$7,900,000	3,604	$2,192	$259,500,000	4
4	The Muppets	$7,073,000	3,328	$2,125	$65,837,000	3
5	Arthur Christmas	$6,600,000	3,272	$2,017	$33,490,000	3
6	Hugo	$6,125,000	2,608	$2,349	$33,489,000	3
7	The Descendants	$4,835,000	876	$5,519	$23,635,000	4
8	Happy Feet Two	$3,750,000	2,840	$1,320	$56,850,000	4
9	Jack and Jill	$3,200,000	2,787	$1,148	$68,642,000	5
10	Immortals	$2,442,000	2,286	$1,068	$79,850,000	5

 

New Year’s Eve ended far below even the studio’s worst expectations, and its failure could spell the end for this category of cameo-filled, multi-star extravaganzas with more storylines than New York City has rats.  Although New Year’s Eve earned a solid CinemaScore of “B+” from the folks that did see it, its meager opening means that it will have a heck of time even coming close to earning its $56 million cost back, given its mediocre per-theater average of just $3,910.

 

The Sitter only cost $25 million, so its chances of making its cost back are considerably better, though its poor “C+” CinemaScore means that it will likely be a struggle.  After a couple of major hits (The Hangover Part 2, and Bridesmaids), “R-rated” comedies have suddenly fallen on hard times, and it’s clear that The Sitter is not going to reverse the downward trend.

 

After three weeks in the top spot, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 slipped 52%, but still earned $7.9 million to bring its domestic total to $259.9 million.  Breaking Dawn slipped past The Hangover Part 2 to become the third highest-grossing film of the year trailing only Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.

 

The Muppets, which opened well but suffered through a very weak sophomore session, rebounded somewhat, dropping just 36% as it earned an estimated $7.1 million.  So far The Muppets has earned $65.2 million, but with a new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie debuting next week, The Muppet movie may be denied the $100 million domestic total that would indicated that Disney’s attempt to revive the property was a certified success.

 

The Aardman Animation-produced Arthur Christmas continues to recover from its weak opening.  The 3-D animated cartoon feature dropped just 11% in its third frame, and has now earned $33.5 million here in three weekends.  Close behind was Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, which slipped 19% to bring in an estimated $6.1 million and bringing its domestic total to $33.5 million.  Strong reviews haven’t helped Hugo with American audiences, the film will need strong showings overseas as well as an Oscar bump to become profitable given its $160 million production cost.

 

Check back next week to see if Hollywood can reverse the current box office slump as Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked both open.