Weekend Box Office: Dec 31 - January 2

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  Little Fockers - $26.3 million

2.  True Grit - $24.5 million

3.  Tron Legacy - $18.3 million

4.  Yogi Bear - $13 million

5.  The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader - $10.5 million

6.  Tangled - $10 million

7.  The Fighter - $10 million

8.  Gulliver's Travels - $9.1 million

9.  Black Swan - $8.4 million

10.  The King's Speech - $7.6 million

The box office race was looking tight over the first weekend of 2011, and while the Fockers' reign of terror was allowed to continue with a first-place finish, it was True Grit that came out looking great.   

Little Fockers dropped a mere 14% from its first-place opening and did cross the $100 million mark this weekend, which is certainly good...if you ignore that the previous film in the series did it four days faster and had already grossed $162 million at this same point in its box office run in 2004.  The film is certainly a hit, but it's clear that the audience interest is starting to wane on this popular dysfunctional family comedy.

The remake of True Grit had a terrific weekend, grossing $24.5 million for a total (so far) of $86.8 million, making it not only the Coen Brothers biggest hit, but the most successful Western since Tombstone in 1993.  With Oscar season in full swing, expect this to continue to play well for the next few weeks. 

Speaking of Oscar season, a few more of the awards hopefuls took respectable places on the list, with The King's Speech making its top ten debut with $7.6 million.  Budgeted at reported $15 million, the film has already grossed $22 million in just 700 theaters nationwide.  Black Swan and The Fighter continued their own successful runs with $8.4 and $10 million respectively.

It was a holiday week, so lots of family movies in the top 10 as well, although most of them not very good, and with the exception of Disney's Tangled, not very successful either.  Yogi Bear and Gulliver's Travels are officially duds, while the latest Narnia film held surprisingly steady with $10.5 million, although it still lags behind the franchise's biggest hit, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.  Tron Legacy got a lot of help from 3D/IMAX ticket sales this weekend, earning $18.3 million.  Better enjoy that now - two more weeks and The Green Hornet is taking over those screens.

Next week sees the official start of the January doldrums, with the much-delayed Season of the Witch and Gwyneth Paltrow-goes-country Country Strong opening in theaters.