Blame it on the weather. Blame it on everybody traveling and Christmas shopping.
Or just blame it on the movies.
With the domestic box-office off about 4 percent from the same weekend last year, Disney's "Tron Legacy 3D" led the market, grossing an estimated $43.6 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates.
The follow-up to 1982 cult non-hit "Tron" matched the low side of its pre-release tracking, but it did not meet the lofty expectations of even 3D skeptics like BTIG Research's Richard Greenfield, who predicted the sequel would be a huge 3D hit coming out of Comic Con last summer.
In second place, Warner Hanna Barbera 3D cartoon adaptation "Yogi Bear" grossed an estimated $16.7 million, missing studio hopes of a $20 million-plus weekend.
But the most conspicuous miss of all happened over at Sony, where James L. Brooks ensemble comedy-drama "How Do You Know" way undershot its dour tracking and appears hard-pressed to earn back what became a $100 million production budget after stars Jack Nicholson, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson and Reese Witherspoon got paid full rate.
The film grossed just $7.6 million this weekend, earning a stinker "C-minus" grade from movie customer-satisfaction survey firm Cinemascore.
"We're disappointed," conceded Sony worldwide distribution president Rory Bruer. "We've had such a great year."
Here's how the top 10 at the box office shaped up. Full report continues below chart:
From "Karate Kid" to "Grown Ups" to "The Other Guys" to "Salt," Sony cranked out a steady stream of hits throughout 2010 ... but then came December.
Last weekend, the studio experienced the soft $16.5 million debut of Angelina Jolie/Johnny Depp caper drama "The Tourist," a performance mitigated by the fact that the $100 million production nut was largely the problem of producer GK Films.
As for "How Do You Know," Sony officials expressed confidence that things might turn around in January, when the film gets released internationally.
But one rival-studio executve noted, "I don't think this movie is going to travel well."
Brooks' last effort, 2004's underperforming Adam Sandler movie "Spanglish," grossed only $12.3 million internationally.
As is often the case for this time of year, some distributors attributed some of the market's softness to bad weather, but the environmental forces were even harsher last year, when inclimate East Coast weather stunted "Avatar's" $77 million start.
Better news came out of the adult-drama world this weekend, where the David O. Russell boxing biopic "The Fighter" grossed $12.2 million while expanding from four to 2,503 theaters.
"Hats off to Relativity for giving us such a great movie," said Don Harris, general manager of distribution for Paramount, which is distributing the film for producer Relativity Media after opting not to back the $25 million Mark Wahlberg/Christian Bale film itself.
Despite "The Fighter's" sports theme, the movie garnered an audience that was 53 percent female this weekend.
