BOX OFFICE DOWN FOR 12TH WEEK

Once again, final box office results for the weekend were below even the studios’ conservative estimates, with no film managing to earn even $15 million. Topping the list was Warner Bros.’ exorcist flick The Rite, which earned $14.79 million. Paramount’s romcom No Strings Attached slipped to second place with $13.41 million, down a modest 32 percent from last week. The next three films on the list were bunched together — CBS Films’s The Mechanic with $11.42 million, Sony/Columbia’s The Green Hornet with $11.18 million, and The Weinstein Co.’s The King’s Speech, with $11.06 million. Overall, the box office was down 13 percent from a year ago, marking the 12th consecutive down weekend. For the entire month of January, revenue was down 24 percent from last year and attendance was down 25 percent.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Box Office Mojo (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):
1. The Rite, Warner Bros., $14,789,393, (New); 2. No Strings Attached, Paramount, $13,410,229, 2 Wks. ($39,502,304); 3. The Mechanic, CBS Films, $11,422,006, (New); 4. The Green Hornet, Sony, $11,184,361, 3 Wks. ($78,485,016); 5. The King’s Speech, Weinstein Co. $11,064,781, 10 Wks. ($72,179,688); 6. True Grit, Paramount, $7,518,265, 6 Wks. ($148,305,900); 7. The Dilemma, Universal, $5,665,730, 3 Wks. ($40,824,185); 8. Black Swan, Fox Searchlight, $5,118,269, 9 Wks. ($90,722,310); 9. The Fighter, Paramount, $3,960,280, 8 Wks. ($78,278,204); 10. Yogi Bear, Warner Bros., $3,167,440, 7 Wks. ($92,509,281).