Box Office Report: Deja vu, kinda

Dude here again. I'm coming at you after a weekend filled with a little less movie viewing and a little more holiday shopping, alongside some brunch. Not to go on a rant here, but brunch is a pretty awesome creation. Mostly because I can get away with eating a sandwich in the morning that doesn't contain eggs, but does contain bacon! That right there is a reason for celebrating across the world and hailing brunch for all the glories contained within.

Unless you're a vegetarian, in which case you're boned, but hey, more bacon for me!

This weekend, a little switcharoo between the top two gorillas, while some smaller films try to make waves. Oh, and a record is broken! Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates. The actuals will be available on Monday).

1. The Blind Side (WB) - $20.4, 3326 screens, week 3, $129.2 total

2. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Sum)- $15.7, 4124 screens, week 3, $255.6 total

3. Brothers (LGF) - $9.7, 2088 screens, week 1, $9.7 total

4. A Christmas Carol (BV) - $7.5, 2546 screens, week 5, $115.0 total

5. Old Dogs (BV)- $6.9, 3425 screens, week 2, $33.9 total

6. Armored (ScrGms)- $6.6, 1915 screens, week 1, $6.6 total

7. 2012 (Sony) - $6.6, 3220 screens, week 4, $148.7 total

8. Ninja Assassin (WB) $5.0, 2503 screens, week 2, $29.7 total

9. Planet 51 (Sony)- $4.3, 2904 screens, week 3, $33.9 total

10. Everybody's Fine (Mir) - $4.0, 2133 screens, week 1, $4.0 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that once again The Blind Side and Twilight: New Moon continue their struggle for dominance (and relevance) and retain the top two spots. Only this time they made far less, which means hysteria is dying down and we have a nice calm before the storm of nerds strike back in an attempt to have Avatar make New Moon numbers. Which it probably won't.

For those of you who wanted to see Spiderman square off against Donnie Darko while Natalie Portman watches on, Brothers is the movie for you, and it opened up to $9 million. Impressive for a movie that isn't based on audiences confusing the two actors with each other.

Armored impressed nobody this weekend. This puts a damper on all other heist flicks that don't involve 11 people and an ocean.

We've let Old Dogs make $33 million. You've also let Boondock Saints 2 make almost $7 million. And then we watch Ninja Assassin slowly wither away and die on the branch. Words can not convey...

Below the radar, Up In The Air, quite possibly the best movie this year, opened up on 15 screens, and took in $1.1 million. This will expand in the upcoming weeks, and I highly recommend it. It's a film both timely and timeless. And I promised you a record being broken, so here it is: Transylmania, a film that tried to capitalize on the vampire trend of late, took in $274,000 on 1007 screens. Which means it's the worst opening weekend of a movie released on more than 1000 screens! See kids? Sometimes not trying is a way to win recognition and awards, too!

There you have my amazing break down. Next week a 2-D animated Disney movie opens up wide, a new Clint Eastwood movie will try to wring our hearts and win awards, a few more limited openings of much anticipated award worthy flicks, and one more week of heavy nerd fanboy breathing!

Until next weekend.......