Tight Race ‘Tween Fockers & True Grit Kicks Off ’11

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.

2011 kicked off with a close race at the box office between the two movies that opened just before Christmas last week and though Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit (Paramount) won Friday with $8.1 million, when the dust settled on Sunday, the Universal comedy Little Fockers (Universal), reuniting Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro, had won the weekend with roughly $26.3 million in its second three-day weekend. It has also crossed the $100 million mark after just 12 days in theaters. Little Fockers has earned $72 million overseas for a worldwide total of $175.6 million.

Meanwhile, the Coens’ Western, starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, settled for second place with $24.5 million and $86.7 million total, making it the sixth-highest grossing Western of all time, as well as the Coens’ biggest-grossing film after 25 years making movies.

Remaining in third place, Disney’s action sequel TRON: Legacy brought in $18.3 million in its third weekend bringing it to a grand total of $130.8 million. $29.5 million of that amount, roughly 22%, was grossed in IMAX 3D theaters nationwide. Worldwide, the film has earned $240.9 million.

The family film Yogi Bear (Warner Bros) moved up one spot to fourth place with $13 million, up 66% from its Christmas weekend, with $66.1 million grossed since opening.

Fox Walden’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader dropped to fifth place with $10.5 million and $87.1 million after four weeks in theaters.

Disney’s animated Tangled also moved up a spot to sixth with $10 million ($168 million total), putting it a mere $8,000 ahead of the Mark Wahlberg-Christian Bale boxing drama The Fighter (Paramount), which settled for 7th based on Sunday estimates. It has grossed $46.4 million so far.

Jack Black’s family adventure Gulliver’s Travels (20th Century Fox) took advantage of having three days of gross (and 543 more theaters) in its second weekend to bring in $9.1 million, although it remained in eighth place. The movie took first place internationally with $24 million to take its total to $47 million. The film has earned $74.2 million globally so far.

Darren Aronofsky’s psychological thriller Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman, retained ninth place with $8.4 million and $47.4 million total.

Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech (Weinstein Company), starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, rounded out the Top 10, adding another $7.7 million to its take of $22.8 million.

The Top 10 grossed $137.8 million based on estimates, down 33% from the same weekend last year due to the lack of a powerhouse trio of Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, which grossed $140 million between them.

Opening in four theaters in New York and L.A. on Wednesday, Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine (Weinstein Co.), starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, took in $180 thousand over the weekend and $278 thousand in its first five days, while Mike Leigh’s Another Year (Sony Pictures Classics) grossed $173 thousand in six theaters during the same five-day period.

Click here for the full box office results of the top 12 films.

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