His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass made a thoroughly disappointing debut in theaters over the weekend, earning just $26.1 million, according to estimates released on Sunday. That's substantially short of the $30 million - $40 million that New Line had announced as their target, and leaves their $300 million plus investment horribly in the red. Only a miracle can save it now.

Overall, with Golden Compass the only wide opener, the market was soft again. Two movies did stand out in the top ten, however. Fred Claus fell only 15% in its fifth week in release and looks set to hold in at least some theaters through the holiday season. No Country for Old Men, meanwhile, expanded from 995 to 1,324 theaters and dropped just 3%, which was enough to move it up to 6th spot in the chart.

- Weekend Estimates

Date posted: 2007-12-09