'New Year's Eve' Tops US Weekend B-O

DEC 12, 2011 - While it did finish in first place, New Year's Eve dropped the ball this weekend with a disappointing US$13.7 million opening. Things were comparatively better for The Sitter, though Jonah Hill didn't impress in his solo debut. Adding these two movies to an already weak field turned out to be box office poison — the Top 12 wound up with an estimated US$69.7 million, which is the second-worst gross of the year so far.

There is also a very good chance that once all movies report tomorrow, overall box office will wind up at its lowest point since 2008.

New Year's Eve's estimated US$13.7 million was off 75 percent from Valentine's Day's $56.3 million debut in February last year. Breaking Dawn Part 1 dipped 52 percent to an estimated $7.9 million and took third place for the weekend.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Dec 9 - 11, 2011 weekend, in terms of rank, (previous week ranking), Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo. (US$1=RM3)

1. (-) New Year's Eve (WB) $13.7 million ($13.7 million) 1

2. (-) The Sitter (Fox) $10.0 million ($10.0 million) 1

3. (1) Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (Sum.) $7.9 million ($259.5 million) 4

4. (2) The Muppets (BV) $7.0 million ($65.8 million) 3

5. (4) Arthur Christmas (Sony) $6.6 million ($33.5 million) 3