With less than $300,000 separating the top three films this weekend, the final order of the domestic top ten has been difficult to call. Sunday’s estimates have End of Watch and House at the End of the Street tied for first with $13 million each. Warner Brother’s Trouble with the Curve is not far behind, however, so more definitive results will have to wait until Monday. One thing we can say for sure? Dredd 3D is off to a rough start.

For the first time since The Dark Knight patrolled the multiplex 18 months ago, a feature film has managed to stay at number one for four consecutive weeks. As expected, James Cameron’s Avatar took no notice of 2010′s new arrivals, remaining the event movie of the year… both of them.

If you have seen a single advertisement for 2012, you know what this movie is.  I’m not saying you know the plot (as if it mattered) or anything like that.  You know that the world ends in a spectacular fashion and all you have to do then is extend that out to 2 ½ hours and you have a movie that is exhilarating to the point of exhaustion.  If you grouped 2012 with director Roland Emmerich’s previous disaster films, Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, then 2012 would be the crowning achievement of an unofficial “I Hate Earth” trilogy.