By Bill Wine

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Movie audiences celebrated New Year’s Eve on the early side this year, but in much more modest numbers than were expected.

Director Garry Marshall’s star-studded romantic comedy finished first at the box office on its debut weekend, earning just under $14-million and displacing the Twilight sequel, Breaking Dawn, from the top spot after three weeks there.

Second place went to the weekend’s other new mainstream release, the Jonah Hill comedy, The Sitter, which took in $10-million in its debut.

Breaking Dawn, in its fourth weekend of release, placed third with a total of $8-million.

Rounding out the top five were holdovers The Muppets and Arthur Christmas with just over and just under $7-million, respectively.

Overall, December returns were very disappointing, resulting in the second-lowest-grossing weekend of the year.