Weekend Box Office: Touchdown!

After two weeks of being in second place, the Sandra Bullock football drama "The Blind Side" stepped up to the number one spot this weekend at the U.S. box office. Former two-time champ "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" slipped to second place, several wide-release newcomers were met with indifference and one limited release met with great results. Overall, the national box office was slightly ahead of the same weekend last year as Hollywood continues to cruise along to a record 2009.

Despite dropping 49%, "The Blind Side" still remained a very popular choice among filmgoers. Adding $20.4 million in ticket sales, the 17-day cume for the inspirational drama hit the $129 million mark. Depending on how well the film holds up in the next few weeks, the $180-190 million mark may still be possible. One thing is for certain: Bullock is having one hell of a good year at the box office. Heck, even her unwatchable dud "All About Steve" pulled in $35 million.

Fading faster than you can "bloodsucker", the blockbuster sequel "New Moon" dropped another 63% for a $15.7 million weekend and a new overall domestic total of $255.6 million. The film will pass Paramount's "Star Trek" in the next day or so to become the fifth highest grossing motion picture of 2009. As with "Blind Side", where "New Moon" finishes all depends on how steep the drops are over the next few weeks. If it continues to drop 60-70% each successive weekend, the film will end up with roughly $285-290 million. If it can level out a bit, the $300 million mark might still be within reach. Any way you slice it, the film is a huge and profitable hit for indie Summit Entertainment. Maybe now they can actually afford to promote "The Hurt Locker" for Oscar consideration.

A quartet of wide releases made little if any impact on the box office. In fact, the three-week-old "Blind Side" grossed more this weekend than all four wide releases combined. At the top of the heap was Lionsgate's drama "Brothers" with an estimated $9.7 million. A remake of a Danish film from 2004, the Jim-Sheridan directed tale starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman did better than I figured it would given its heavy-duty subject matter. Reviews were mostly positive. Sony's heist pic "Armored" sputtered with an estimated $6.6 million from close to 2,000 screens. Miramax's remake of the Italian film "Everybody's Fine" was DOA with a puny $3.7 million gross, and something called "Transylmania" pulled in an embarassing $272,000 from 1,007 screens for a wretched $272 per screen average.

Aside from "Blind Side" climbing to the number one spot after three weeks of release, two films in limited release posted some superb numbers. Debuting on a small, 15-screen count, Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air" pulled in a huge $1.2 million, averaging $79,000 per screen. Arriving with strong reviews and the honor of being named film of the year by the National Board of Review, "Air" connected with adult viewers in a big way. If the Paramount release can maintain its altitude, the film could blossom into a huge hit as it expands throughout December.

The other big exclusive, Walt Disney's animated "The Princess and the Frog", kissed a huge $744,000 from two pricey (tickets run between $30 and $50 each) exclusive runs in Los Angeles and New York. The two week total for the new animated featue is $2.4 million. The film opens wide this upcoming Friday and will duke it out with the new Clint Eastwood-directed sports drama "Invictus" for the number one spot next weekend.