MUMBAI: As every year, December started on a sluggish note with Garry Marshall‘s star-studded film New Year‘s Eve failing to gather enough footfalls. The film grossed a poor $13.7 million.

Though they knew of the sluggish period, Warner Bros. and New Line still expected New Year‘s Eve to earn $20 million or more in the film‘s opening.

"The box office was just in really bad shape. While we had the No. 1 movie, we were No. 1 in a very soft market," Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman has reportedly said.

Overall box revenues for the weekend reached an estimated $78 million, the lowest since early September 2008, when revenues only reached $68 million over the Sept. 5-7 weekend.

This weekend was down 15 per cent from the same period a year ago and 4 per cent from last weekend.

In the US, New Year‘s Eve scored better than Marshall‘s Valentine‘s Day that opened to a massive $72 million over the four-day Valentine‘s Day/President‘s Day weekend in 2010.