Film News: ‘New Year’s Eve’ Wins Underwhelming Weekend Box Office

Submitted by TimBMartens on December 11, 2011 - 8:53pm

CHICAGO – In a weekend that saw some low totals, the new film “New Year’s Eve” knocked “Breaking Dawn – Part 1” from the top spot at the weekend box office. The new film totaled an estimated $13.7 million this past weekend.

“New Year’s Eve” was the champion of the weekend, but it was also the lowest grossing weekend of 2011. Maybe the weather is getting too cold, or people were busy Christmas shopping, but the entire box office gross from the weekend was an estimated $74.1 million. For comparison, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” ($169.2 million) more than doubled that total by itself on its opening weekend.

As far as the rest of the box office, the new film “The Sitter” finished in second with an estimated $10 million. The rest of the releases dropped almost exactly the same as they came in last week, except “The Descendants,” which finished at number seven once again. The film actually finished 1% higher in gross than last weekend.

Will “New Year’s Eve” make it to the top again next weekend or drop like a crystal ball? I would say the new releases of “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked” are going to be too much for any of the current releases to finish at the top next week. In the year of sequels, next weekend has two more that are sure to top any of the lowly numbers from this week.

1. New Year’s Eve– $13.7 million — new
2. The Sitter– $10 million — new
3. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 – $7.9 million – down 52% — $259.5 million total
4. The Muppets– $7.1 million – down 36% — $65.8 million total
5. Arthur Christmas — $6.6 million – down 11% — $33.5 million total
6. Hugo — $6.1 million – down 19% — $33.5 million total
7. The Descendants – $4.8 million – up 1% — $23.6 million total
8. Happy Feet Two — $3.8 million – down 37% — $56.9 million total
9. Jack and Jill— $3.2 million – down 40% — $68.6 million total
10. Immortals— $2.4 million – down 45% — $79.8 million total