Sure, nothing topped the latest vampire love story; however the biggest surprise this weekend was how much Sandra Bullock’s The Blind Side took in. Last weekend the sports drama (which had the highest opening for a movie in its genre) debuted in second place with $34.1 million, but this weekend it stayed at #2 and went up 17.6% to an annual sum of $40.1 million. This brings its domestic total to $100.3 million in two weeks. Not bad, John Lee Hancock.

Nothing seemed to shake the top three, as 2012 also remained at #3 with $18 million, down 31.8% from last weekend’s haul of $26.4 million. Roland Emmerich’s disaster pic now has a grand sum of $138.8 million, which is still a good $61.2 million away from making back the $200 million the film took to make. Old Dogs had the biggest surprise opening this weekend in my opinion, opening behind 2012 with $16.8 million, barely barking up Wild Hogs $39.7 million debut in March 2007.

A Christmas Carol (which I finally saw this weekend, by the way, and heartily enjoyed) rounds off the top five with just about $16 million. Robert Zemeckis’s movie, starring Jim Carrey, now has a sum of $105.4 million in nearly a month.

Out of the top five-

• James McTeigue’s highly-hyped Ninja Assassin only seemed to attract the fanboys interested, coming in beneath Carol with $13.1 million.
• The nationwide release of Fantastic Mr. Fox helped the Wes Anderson film skyrocket up 3,349.4% to the ninth spot with $7 million.
• John Hillcoat’s The Road, based on the bestseller by Cormac McCarthy, opened just out of the top ten at #11 with $1.5 million in 111 theaters. With an expansion in the coming weeks, the movie’s money pile will undoubtedly only grow larger.
• Disney’s third movie in release, the 2-D highly-awaited The Princess and the Frog did quite well in only two theaters, grossing $712,000. A nationwide expansion on December 11^th will surely help the movie land somewhere in the top ten.
• The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, starring Robin Wright Penn, debuted with $96,000 in 12 theaters.
• The positive reviews (an 80% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes) for Zac Efron’s first official “grown-up” movie Me and Orson Welles only added to the film rallying $64,800 in only four theaters.

Here are the box office results according to studio estimates Sunday:

1. 1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon…$42.5 million
2. 2. The Blind Side…$40.1 million
3. 3. 2012…$18 million
4. 4. Old Dogs…$16.8 million
5. 5. A Christmas Carol (2009)…$16 million
6. 6. Ninja Assassin…$13.1 million
7. 7. Planet 51…$10.2 million
8. 8. Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire…$7.1 million
9. 9. Fantastic Mr. Fox…$7 million
10. 10. The Men Who Stare At Goats…$1.5 million

Becker worked with Reynolds again when directing and co-writing 2002’s Buying the Cow, which was bumped to just a standard DVD release, but still poorly received.

One TV movie called 1321 Clover (which I’ve never heard of and don’t ever plan to see) and yet only five years later it was another breakout hit for Becker with Wild Hogs. The road trip comedy had a stellar cast, including Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, John Travolta and William H. Macy, with a screenplay by a writer who penned episodes for both My Name is Earl and Arrested Development. However after seeing this movie in March of 2007, I felt ashamed that at one time I thought that these guys were actually funny. Hogs was childish, it misused the actors talents and, most importantly, it was just flat-out not funny in the least bit. The only good thing to come out of Wild Hogs was that due to a sold-out showing one night, I got to check out Marc Lawrence’s Music and Lyrics, which I really enjoyed.

So I wasn’t the least bit excited for Old Dogs. For one reason because the title sounded way too similar to Wild Hogs, and another because I didn’t want to see Robin Williams humiliate himself after loving the guy so much in Worlds Greatest Dad; plus, this movie isn’t even remotely about dogs. It’s about two old guys who get stuck taking care of two seven-year-olds. Bo-ring!!! Why would I want to suffer through that when I can go check out Ninja Assassin two theaters down? Anyway, I was happy to see that critics hated this movie as well. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle had this to say about the movie: “The great thing about comedy these days is that few people are making movies like Old Dogs.” What? I agree with him about the movie being bad, but “few people are making movies like Old Dogs?” Obviously this man hasn’t been to the movies in the past couple of months.

As you know by some of my “Early Reviews” posts here on The Movie Banter, I am an avid reader of the movie website Cinema Blend. Their review of Dogs was also a scathing one, however Katey Rich said in her screening of the film that the audience was hooting with laughter throughout. Is the American audience that easy to entertain? A few crotch jokes and fart gags and the man next to you is nearly choking on the popcorn he’s trying to swallow. It’s a mystery how Disney can release a good movie like A Christmas Carol in the same month it releases this piece of trash. However I place most of the blame on the shoulders of Walt Becker and you, America. On Friday Old Dogs grossed $6.9 million; don’t let that pile grow any higher than it already is because we know that it’s being used to fund Wild Hogs 2: Bachelor Party. You don’t believe me? Go to the movie theater in early 2011. Just don’t try to eat popcorn at the same time you’re watching in case Becker makes William H. Macy wear a thong again.