New Year's Eve gives studios nothing to celebrate at the US box office

This weekend was a box office bloodbath. All the hopes of a strong December to end a lackluster year at the box office are starting to fade. Two new entries managed to derail the Twilight money train but both debuted to weaker than expected numbers...

The Garry Marshall ensemble comedy New Year’s Eve was a massive disappointment. Even with a dozen name actors and a huge marketing push, the movie was only able to debut to $14 million dollars. The studio is desperate to spin the numbers, but any hopes of recreating Valentine's Day-style success is gone.

There's a lot of speculation about the box office drought, but it seems directly related to the sub-par product hitting being released. The Sitter starring Jonah Hill seems to be another example of a disinterested public with the movie struggling to get to $10 million dollars. This is the second box office failure in 2011 for David Gordon Green, who also delivered the dead-on-arrival Your Highness. Audiences don't seem to be laughing, and neither do the studios financing these overpriced underperformers.

But it's tough to identify just where the disconnect is. Hugo, one of the best reviewed movies of the year, is not gaining any traction in spite of increasing its screens, making another $6 million this weekend. The Muppets has had fantastic word of mouth and brought in another $7 million and Aardman Holiday holdover Arthur Christmas scraped up another $6.5 million.

Speaking of 'well reviewed', The Descendents is still showing a strong hold, making $4.5 million at less than 900 screens. The George Clooney comedy has managed to hover around the bottom of the top 10 for the last 4 weeks and amassed an impressive $24 million dollars.

The Adventures of Tintin has yet to be released in America but started a North America run in Canada. On only 70 screens it managed nearly $1.5 million in receipts. That number is impressive considering it made 25% of Hugo's weekend haul at 2500 fewer theaters. It will be interesting to see how American audiences react to the animated film which just crossed $200 million dollars internationally.

So, the first 2 weeks of December have been an epic bust. Next week brings Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in the sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and the animated three-quel Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. Studios are hoping for a breakout December film, but at this point confidence is beginning to crumble.

Here's your top five for North America:

1. New Year's Eve
Weekend Estimate: $14 million

2. The Sitter
Weekend Estimate: $10 million

3. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1
Weekend Estimate: $8 million (weekend); $260m (total)

4. The Muppets
Weekend Estimate: $7 million (weekend); $66m (total)

5. Arthur Christmas
Weekend Estimate: $6.5 million (weekend); $33.5m (total)

Anghus Houvouras