box office news

January may be a tough month at the box office, but Leighton Meester and Minka Kelly's thriller The Roommate managed to make its mark. It earned $15.6 million, which landed it in first place in the least-attended Super Bowl weekend in 15 years.

In second place was Sanctum, the James Cameron-produced cave thriller and fellow new release, which made $9.2 million. Following it in third was Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher's romantic comedy No Strings Attached with $8.4 million, and Oscar hopeful The King's Speech was right on its heels with $8.3 million. Rounding out the top five was The Green Hornet, which came in with $6.1 million.

Audiences were itching for something new at theaters this weekend, and fresh release The Rite reaped the benefits. Anthony Hopkins's horror flick took first place at the box office, taking in $15.5 million. It took down last week's champ, No Strings Attached, which settled for second with $13.6 million. Jason Statham's The Mechanic debuted in third with $11.5 million, followed by The Green Hornet, which slipped to fourth and garnered $11.5 million. The King's Speech rounded out the top five with $11.1 million.

It was another lackluster holiday weekend at the box office, and once again, Little Fockers came out on top. Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller's comedy took in $26.3 million over the weekend, though it was True Grit that really made waves. The film stayed in second place with $24.5 million, but the Western has already grossed more than Oscar winner No Country For Old Men, making it the biggest film for the Coen brothers to date.

Tron: Legacy stayed in third with $18.3 million, while Yogi Bear climbed a notch to fourth with $13 million. Completing the top five was The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader with $10.5 million.

Overall, numbers were down from this weekend last year, but perhaps a new slate of 2011 movies will help the tides change in the coming weeks.

Little Fockers earned top honors at the box office this weekend, but the victory wasn't so sweet. Overall, the holiday weekend estimates were down 45% from last year (which included juggernauts Avatar and Sherlock Holmes). The third Meet the Parents film took in $34 million, followed by the debut of the Coen brothers' True Grit with $25.6 million. Last week's champ, Tron: Legacy, finished third with $20.1 million, followed by The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader at $10.8 million. To close out the top five, Yogi Bear finished with $8.8 million.

As for other note-worthy performances (both good and bad): Gulliver's Travels suffered (perhaps from abysmal reviews) opened with a mere $7.2 million. On the other hand, The King's Speech reaped the benefits of a wider release, climbing from No. 11 to No. 14 with $4.5 million.

All the special effects of the futuristic Tron: Legacy were enough to lure audiences to the theaters. The sequel scored the top spot at the box office for its opening weekend, earning $43.6 million. Behind it was another newcomer, Yogi Bear, which took in $16.7 million. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was knocked from number one and slid to third place with $12.4 million.

The Fighter reaped the benefits of a wider release and many award nominations: the boxing film was boosted from 19th to fourth with $12.2 million. Meanwhile, The Tourist stumbled to fifth place with $8.7 million. New romantic comedy How Do You Know didn't receive a warm welcome: the Reese Witherspoon/Paul Rudd/Owen Wilson flick took in just $7.6 million.

The Chronicles of Narnia may not have the same box office power as the Harry Potter franchise, but an unimpressive $24.5 million was still enough for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to take the crown. Bad reviews for The Tourist put a damper on the power of Jolie and Depp, as their film debuted in second with $17 million. Tangled slid to third place with $14.6 million, pushing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I down to fourth with $8.5 million. Fifth place went to Unstoppable with $3.7 million.

Black Swan continued to pick up momentum in limited release, taking in $3.3 million across only 90 screens for sixth place. The film is expected to pick up even more steam when it goes wide on Dec. 22.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I clung on to its title as box office champion, taking in $70.8 million over the five-day holiday weekend. Disney's new animated adventure, Tangled nipped at its heels with $69 million, marking it as the second biggest Thanksgiving premiere of all time.

Third place went to another family film, as Megamind took in $17.6 million, followed by Christina Aguilera's Burlesque with $17.2 million. Unstoppable rounded out the top five with $16.2 million. Even gratuitous amounts of nudity couldn't help Love and Other Drugs, which took in $14 million.

We all saw this one coming, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I tore up the box office in its debut weekend, taking in a staggering $125.1 million. Those numbers earned the film the sixth-highest opening weekend of all time, and was the best debut for the franchise to date. Last week's champ, Megamind, settled for a distant second place with $16.1 million.

Unstoppable took third with $13.1 million, followed by Due Date with $9.1 million. Rounding out the top five was newbie The Next Three Days, which clocked in at $6.7 million. With a holiday weekend on the horizon, I'm expecting Potter to add to its impressive tally — what will you be seeing over the Thanksgiving break?

Audiences are already getting in Halloween spirit! The spooky sequel Paranormal Activity 2 earned the top spot at the box office over the weekend with $41.5 million (perhaps that's not so surprising since the majority of you said you'd see it). It beat last weekend's champ Jackass 3D, which fell to the No. 2 slot with $21.6 million. What's even more impressive: Paranormal Activity 2 set a new record for the biggest three-day opening ever for a horror film.

Red fell one spot to take third place with $15 million, while Matt Damon's Hereafter received a boost as the film expanded into more theaters to earn $12 million for fourth place. Rounding out the top five was The Social Network, which took in $7.3 million.

Who better than to bring down the Social Network geeks than Johnny Knoxville and his band of misfits? The majority of you were looking forward to seeing Jackass 3D in the theater and it showed in box office earnings: the film took in a staggering $50 million in its opening weekend, setting the record for highest October opening weekend ever. Fellow newcomer Red didn't even earn half that, but still got second place with $22.5 million.

Former champ The Social Network sank down to the third slot with $11 million, followed by Secretariat with $9.5 million. Katherine Heigl's Life As We Know It clung to a top five spot with $9.2 million.