After a Christmas-weekend debut that was, well, littler than expected, Universal's "Little Fockers" rebounded solidly over New Year's weekend, leading the domestic box office with a $26.3 million three-day performance, according to studio estimates.
The total pushed the third "Meet the Parents" movie's total domestic gross to $103.2 million, while representing only a 15 percent decline from the film's premiere weekend.
"If you look at the third films in most franchises, they typically don't play like the second one," said Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco, noting that $60 million-plus expectations for "Fockers'" five-day premiere week may have been too high (the film grossed $45.1 million during that period). "But this certainly marks a success when you have a film do over $100 million in 12 days.
In second place, Paramount's Coen Brothers-directed "True Grit" grossed $24.5 million, upping the $38 million Jeff Bridges/Matt Damon Western's 12-day total to $86.8 million.
Of course, it says something about the performance of the overall holiday box office when a $38 million Coen Brothers remake of a 1969 John Wayne film nearly wins New Year's Day weekend, but it almost happened, with "Grit" not dropping a dime from Christmas weekend.
With the overall New Year's weekend box office down about 30 percent from the same frame a year ago, which featured a $68.5 million weekend No. 3 performance by "Avatar," no film debuted widely.
The domestic box office ended the year with a total gross of around $10.5 billion, just short of the record $10.6 billion taken in last year.
Official figures will be released on Monday.
Here's a look at the top 10. Report continues below chart:
While there were no big movies released this weekend, there were some awards-aspiring adult dramas that came to qualify, however.
Notably, The Weinstein Company's "Blue Valentine," which debuted Wednesday in four theaters, grossed $180,000 at four locations for a solid $45,000-per-engagement average.
According to Weinstein COO David Glasser, the studio plans to expand the Ryan Gosling/Michelle Williams romantic drama into 10 markets and about 25 locations next weekend.
Weinstein's "The King's Speech," meanwhile, cracked the top 10, grossing an estimated $7.6 million, up about 65 percent from Christmas weekend, when it expanded to its current level of about 700 locations. Its six-week total now stands at an estimated $22.8 million.
"We're going to wait one week, and let the word of mouth from holidays leak out, and then we're going to push it into 1,500 locations (on Jan. 14)," Glasser said.
As for big holdovers, Disney enjoyed continued momentum for its expensive 3D tentpoles "Tron Legacy" and "Tangled."
Playing its third weekend, "Tron" — which came in with a list production price of around $170 million plus $120 million in worldwide marketing cost — grossed $18.3 million, dropping only 2 percent from weekend two and upping its domestic gross to $130.9 million.
In weekend six, "Tangled" — which cost Disney well over $200 million to make — increased its gross more than 50 percent from Christmas weekend, taking in another $10 million and bringing it to around $168 million domestically.
Fox, meanwhile, also continues to enjoy solid play for "Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader," with the $155 million C.S. Lewis-adapted fantasy film growing 2 percent from week to week with $10.5 million. The third "Narnia" installment has now grossed $87.1 million domestically and $186 million abroad.
And Fox's Searchlight division saw its Darren Aronofsky-directed Oscar hopeful "Black Swan" grow nearly 35 percent to $8.5 million, bringing its five-week total to $47.4 million
Not so happily for Fox, Jack Black comedy "Gulliver's Travels" grew over 40 percent in week two to $9.1 million … but only has $27.2 milionto show for itself after two weeks of release on a $115 million production nut.
For its part, Warner saw its 3D kids film "Yogi Bear" grow over 50 percent in weekend three, grossing $13 million and upping its domestic total to $66.1 million.
For its part, Sony saw its two disappointing December films, "The Tourist" and "How Do You Know", drop out of the top 10.
"The Tourist" grew nearly 25 percent to $6.8 million this weekend. And with foreign totals on the $100 million Johnny Depp/Angelina Jolie movie now at $37.1 million, Sony might be OK.
The James L. Brooks ensemble dramedy "How Do You Know," grew about 30 percent week-to-week to $4.6 million. But with only $25.1 million after two weeks on a production nut that exceeded $100 million, Sony is looking at a tough balance sheet.
