This week’s list of new Blu-ray titles is rather short, but a few 2012 films that were much loved (for very different reasons) get a home video release.

• Chasing Mavericks [Blu-ray] – $17.99 (40% off)
• Holy Motors [Blu-ray] – $33.96 (15% off)
• The Master [Blu-ray] – $19.99 (50% off)
• Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (Three-Disc Combo Pack: Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) – $27.99 (44% off)
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 [Blu-ray + Digital Copy + UltraViolet] – $19.96 (50% off)

With only days remaining before its much-anticipated return to Middle Earth, the box office was a relatively quiet place. Once again, holdovers ruled and grosses were small. In fact, the only real surprise was which of the week’s seasoned veterans came out on top. That would be Skyfall: the James Bond blockbuster that last held the top spot four weeks ago.

With Hurricane Sandy bearing down on the East Coast, a perfect storm of indifference hit the domestic box office. Blame it on the weather or on a weak crop of new studio releases, the outcome is the same: a slow weekend that fell behind 2011 by more than 10%. Only Argo found a silver lining in the storm, pulling into first place after two weeks in theatres. As for Cloud Atlas – the most closely watched newcomer of the frame – the forecast is a little, um, cloudy.

With four new wide releases, you’d think the box office would be primed to close out October with another strong weekend. You’d be wrong. The prospects for the four newbies – including Cloud Atlas and Silent Hill: Revelation 3D – looked shaky even before the so-called ‘Frankenstorm’ trained its eye on America’s East Coast. Now, a combination of poor Cinemascores and Hurricane hysteria seems poised to put Argo on top with one of the lowest first-place wins since September. On its third Friday in theatres, Argo edged out Silent Hill 2 and Cloud Atlas for first with an estimated $4 million. The Ben Affleck drama is expected to stay on top (for its first weekend win) while Silent Hill falls to number four. That means that Cloud Atlas, the epic drama co-directed by the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer, should move into second place with close to $10 million – $3 million under initial projections. If the Cloud Atlas debut seems disappointing, however, it could have been worse. Despite a big release in 3,014 locations, Paramount’s Fun Size just missed Friday’s top ten with its estimate of $1.3 million. Fox’s Chasing Mavericks, with Gerard Butler, fared even worse: twelfth place on Friday with $1 million from 2,002 runs.

When we invent screenwriting programs that can write a screenplay from start to finish, it will crank out something like Chasing Mavericks.  The script is so cynically calculated in its plot beats and character motivations that it’s easy to forget the story is based on a person’s real life.  The biopic of surfing prodigy Jay Moriarty comes off as a disservice to his memory as his character, like everyone else in the movie, is one-dimensional and saddled with stilted dialogue.  The only times when Mavericks truly comes alive is when it embraces the act of surfing; everything else is a wipeout.

Chasing Mavericks is based on the inspirational true story of surfing phenom Jay Moriarty (Jonny Weston), who enlists the help of local legend Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler) to train him to surf the mythic Mavericks surf break near his home in Santa Cruz.  The quest to surf one of the biggest waves on Earth leads them to form a unique friendship that transforms their lives.

At the film’s press day, actor Gerard Butler talked about what drew him to try his hand at surfing for the film, when fear started to kick in, the accident that almost claimed his life, his own personal pillars to live by, how talking to Frosty really helped him capture the essence of the man, and the aspects of the story that he found himself relating to.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

We’ve got a lot of images from the upcoming slate of late-2012 films:

• Paranormal Activity 4, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, opens October 19th.
• The Impossible, starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, opens October 11th.
• Flight, starring Denzel Washington and John Goodman, opens November 2nd.
• Not Fade Away, from writer/director David Chase, stars John Magaro, Will Brill and Jack Huston and opens December 21st.
• Les Miserables, starring Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried, opens December 14th.
• Anna Karenina, starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law and Aaron Johnson, opens September 7th.
• Resident Evil: Retribution, starring Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez and Sienna Guillory, opens September 14th.

Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses, including a full second page featuring featuring Looper, This Must Be the Place, The Man with the Iron Fists,  Wreck-It Ralph, Frankenweenie, Red Dawn, and Chasing Mavericks.

The first trailer for Curtis Hanson and Michael Apted‘s Chasing Mavericks has gone online.  The film is based on the true story of the relationship between legendary surfer Jay Moriarty (newcomer Jonny Weston) and his mentor, local legend Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler), and how Moriarty made his name surfing the waves of Mavericks in Northern California.  Judging by the trailer, this looks like a nice movie that won’t blow anyone away, but could make for an enjoyable time at the pictures.  However, I’ve never surfed in my life, so I’d like to know what surfers think of this trailer.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Elisabeth Shue and Abigail Spencer.  Chasing Mavericks opens October 26th.

A couple of new posters have hit the interwebs.  First up, Gallery 1988 has fashioned a limited edition print for The Bourne Legacy that will be available exclusively at Comic-Con.  Beginning Fridy, July 13th, this limited edition of 200.  No further information is given besides the instruction to follow @OperationIntel for more information on where to snag one of these, so best of luck.  It’s actually a pretty cool poster with a nice nod to the spy films of the 1960s.

Additionally, the first poster from the surfer film Chasing Mavericks (previously titled Of Men and Mavericks) has landed online.  Directed by Curtis Hanson, the film stars Gerard Butler as mentor to Moriarty (played by newcomer Jonny Weston), a soul surfer who made his name on the waves over Mavericks in Northern California.  Hit the jump to check out the posters.  The Bourne Legacy opens on August 10th, while Chasing Mavericks opens on October 26th.