The Coen brothers’ True Grit topped the North American box office with an estimated $15 million, but it ruled a very weak session with the total of the top ten box office films down 37% from last year when Avatar reigned.  In a situation analogous to that faced by comic book publishers in 2010 when they were trying to match the trade paperback sales generated by Watchmen in 2009, over the next few months Hollywood studios are going to have a hard time keeping up with the Avatar-aided grosses of Q1 2010.   But this past weekend 's box office performance was poor by any standard.  The total of the top ten films also trailed the same frame in 2009, when Gran Turino was tops, by 25%, and despite higher ticket prices, the top ten films earned their lowest total in the past eleven years.

True Grit, which cost just $38 million to make, has now earned $110.4 million in 17 days and appears to be poised to continue its stellar run.  Though it was shut out in terms of Golden Globe nominations, True Grit should garner some Oscar nods since Hollywood likes a winner, especially one that appears to be resuscitating a moribund genre.  Grit has already surpassed the grosses of such successful modern westerns as Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven and the TV-based Maverick, though it should be noted that the Coen brothers’ film has little chance of passing either of those films in attendance.

Little Fockers, which had ruled to box office for two weekends, slipped to second place as its gross fell 46% to an estimated $13.8 million.  So far the third film in the series that began with Meet the Parents in 2000 has earned $124 million, a solid figure, but one that is dwarfed by the $204.5 million that its predecessor Meet the Fockers had brought in at this point in 2004.  Of course given ticket price inflation the number of people who bought tickets for Little Fockers is well under half the number who attended Meet the Fockers.

This weekend’s one new film, Season of the Witch, ended up in third place with a total of $10.7 million.  The $40 medieval epic with strong fantasy themes is the sort of movie that should be of some interest to gamers, but its prospects are decidedly mixed.  It has already made more money than The Last Legion did during its entire run, but opening weekend audiences, which skewed slightly male (52%) and older (61% over 25), gave the film a poor CinemaScore grade of “C+.”  Critics were even more unkind—the film earned a pitiful 4% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which coupled with its mediocre CinemaScore, indicates that Season of the Witch could be headed out of the top ten in a hurry.

Tron: Legacy appears to be holding up pretty well.  It added $9.8 million, bringing its domestic total to nearly $150 million after 24 days of release.  The $170 million production has earned over $253 million worldwide, which means it hasn’t yet reached profitability (the rule of thumb is that a film has to make at least double its cost to break even at the box office since exhibitors keep approximately 50% of the ticket price), but Tron: Legacy, which finished in fourth place, still has some life at the box office left and should do well on disc. 

While Sony’s Country Strong didn’t actually open this weekend, it did expand from two theaters to 1,424.  Critics hated this distaff version of Crazy Heart (only 17% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), but the film’s older (51% over 30) largely female audience (73%) gave the Country Strong a slightly positive “B+” CinemaScore.

The lack of powerful new releases or really potent holdovers resulted in this weak early January session, but there were some positive trends at the box office.  Films with serious awards potential such as Black Swan (down just 6%), The King’s Speech (off 12.4%), and The Fighter (down 30%) all did relatively well, while those that targeted the youthful holiday audience like Yogi Bear (off 45%), Tangled (down 47%), The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (-53.7%), and Gulliver’s Travels (down 50%) suffered as the kids tramped back to school.

Check here next week to find out whether the Green Hornet can sting the box office back to life.