Company Town: ‘Little Fockers’ falls short of box-office expectations

Considering that Christmas Eve — traditionally one of the slowest days for moviegoing all year — fell on a Friday, it would have taken a holiday miracle to keep box-office receipts from tumbling from what they were a year ago.

“Little Fockers” was not that holiday miracle.

The costly third installment in the comedy series starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro failed to live up to big expectations, opening to $48.3 million from Wednesday through Sunday, according to an estimate from distributor Universal Pictures.

The Coen brothers-directed western “True Grit” was a surprisingly strong No. 2 with $36.8 million in the same five-day period.

But the Jack Black 3-D comedy “Gulliver’s Travels,” which opened Saturday, saw Lilliputian ticket sales, debuting to just $7.2 million in two days.

As a result, total Christmas weekend grosses tumbled 45% from a year ago, when the blockbuster “Avatar” dominated, according to Hollywood.com. And for the first time in 2010, year-to-date box office receipts dropped below those of 2009, despite substantial price increases mainly because of 3-D.

The opening of “Little Fockers” was 31% lower than “Meet the Fockers’” debut on the same date in 2004, indicating a significant drop in audience interest in the eccentric family.

Day-to-day trends in ticket sales, including a big dip on Christmas Eve and a huge jump on Christmas Day, were similar, however. If the film continues on the same path as its predecessor, “Little Fockers” should end up with a domestic gross of about $190 million, compared with $279 million for “Meet the Fockers.”

Universal, Paramount Pictures and Relativity Media spent a hefty sum to produce “Little Fockers,” with its array of stars that also includes Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand and additional footage shot at the last minute. Three people close to the film said its budget was between $130 million and $140 million, though a spokeswoman for Universal said the cost was about $100 million.

“‘Meet the Fockers’ is an extremely high bar since it’s the second biggest live-action comedy ever,” said Eddie Egan, Universal”s president of marketing. “We’re absolutely pleased with this performance.”

“Little Fockers” drew a diverse crowd of families without young children, according to exit polls, though audiences tilted more female. Reactions were mixed, with ticket buyers giving the film an average grade of B-, according to market research firm CinemaScore.

Overseas, where Paramount is releasing the movie, “Little Fockers” took in $27 million in 37 foreign markets, which Paramount estimated represented about two-thirds of its foreign box-office potential. “Meet the Fockers” grossed slightly less internationally than domestically, and it appears that “Little Fockers” will do the same.

The three financiers are evenly splitting worldwide revenue from the picture.

Paramount and Skydance Productions spent about $38 million to produce “True Grit,” which stars Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, making the western remake a hit out of the gate. Its $25.6-million take for the three-day weekend was the best ever for a movie directed by the quirky Coen brothers, not accounting for ticket-price inflation.

With word of mouth likely to be strong thanks to a B+ CinemaScore, “True Grit” should best the Coens’ previous total box-office record of $74.3 million for “No Country for Old Men.”

While 70% of the audience for “True Grit” was older than 25, Paramount also advertised the movie to younger people who aren’t typically Coen fans but who the studio believed would be drawn to the film’s action and comedic elements.

“We knew this movie would play to young guys, so we marketed it to them, and that’s definitely part of why it has done so well,” said Paramount Vice Chairman Rob Moore.

Families accounted for 55% of the audiences for “Gulliver’s,” but not nearly enough of them turned up to make the $112-million production financed by 20th Century Fox, Dune Entertainment and Ingenious Film Partners a success. It’s likely to be a major money loser, unless it performs significantly better overseas, where it has yet to open in most countries.

“Gulliver’s Travels” is the second underperformer in a row for Black, who last year starred in the flop “Year One.”

Even though it didn’t play on Christmas Eve, “Gulliver’s” came in behind Fox’s other family film, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” which opened two weeks ago. “Dawn Treader” enjoyed a small drop of 13%, better than any other returning movie that didn’t increase its theater count, indicating that it has momentum with families despite a soft start. It took in $10.8 million for the three-day weekend, bringing its total to $63.9 million.

The third “Narnia” movie continued to do much better overseas, where it grossed $25.5 million in 66 foreign markets this weekend, bringing its international total to a healthy $168.6 million.

Last weekend’s No. 1 movie, “Tron: Legacy,” took a sizable fall of 54% to $20.1 million, indicating that Disney’s hopes that the pricey tent-pole movie would expand beyond fanboys to play to family audiences might have been overly optimistic. It has grossed $88.3 million domestically after 10 days and $65.5 million overseas from 34 foreign markets.

ben.fritz@latimes.com