The News-Herald Blogs: Tuned in to Pop Culture: This weekend's box office was baaaad

What's keeping people from going to the movies? Nothing good out?

According to The Associated Press:

Hollywood’s holidays are off to a dreadful start: Fewer people went to the movies the last two weekends than during the box-office hush that followed the Sept. 11 attacks 10 years ago.
Domestic revenues tumbled to a 2011 low of about $77 million this weekend, when the star-filled, holiday-themed romance “New Year’s Eve” debuted at No. 1 with a weak $13.7 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
It’s the worst weekend in more than three years, since the weekend after Labor Day in 2008, when revenues amounted to $67.6 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com. And it comes after an $81 million total a week earlier that had been this year’s previous low.
“It’s unbelievable how bad it is,” said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

What are people doing instead of going to the movies?

More from The AP:

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “New Year’s Eve,” $13.7 million ($12.9 million international). (Review by The AP's Jake Coyle)
2. “The Sitter,” $10 million. (Review by The AP's David Germain)
3. “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1,” $7.9 million. (Review by The News-Herald's Mark Meszoros)
4. “The Muppets,” $7.1 million ($1.2 million international). (Review by Meszoros; Q&A with Kermit the Frog by The AP's Derrik J. Lang)
5. “Arthur Christmas,” $6.6 million ($14.3 million international). (Review by Germain)
6. “Hugo,” $6.1 million. (Review by Meszoros)
7. “The Descendants,” $4.4 million. (Review by The AP's Christy Lemire)
8. “Happy Feet Two,” $3.8 million. (Review by Germain)
9. “Jack and Jill,” $3.2 million. (Review by Coyle)
10. “Immortals,” $2.4 million. ("You can see the next Man of Steel in theaters now swinging a sword in 'Immortals'" by Lang)