'New Year's Eve' Tops Disastrous Box Office Nosedive; Critics Groups Honor 'Descendants,' 'Artist,' 'Tree of Life'; ABC News Scores With GOP Debate; Review of Christian Bale's 'Flowers of War'

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TOP STORIES 'New Year's Eve' Leads Worst Box Office Weekend Since 2008 With $13.7 Mil Jonah Hill starrer "The Sitter" comes in second with $10 million; weekend is down 15 percent from last year as a nervous Hollywood prepares for make-or-break Christmas. Los Angeles Film Critics Awards Names 'The Descendants' Best Film of the Year Terence Malick, Michael Fassbender, Yun Jung-Hee, Jessica Chastain and Christopher Plummer also among top picks from LAFCA. AFI Recognizes 'The Artist' and 'Harry Potter' Movies With Special Awards The American Film Institute also announces its 10 movies and 10 TV programs of the year. 'The Artist' Named Year's Best Movie by New York Film Critics Online The movie's director, Michael Hazanavicius, also receives top honors, while "Take Shelter's" Michael Shannon and "The Iron Lady's" Meryl Streep are chosen as best actor and actress, respectively. 'The Artist' Named Best Picture by Boston Film Critics Brad Pitt, for "Moneyball," and Michelle Williams, for "My Week With Marilyn," take top acting honors. 'The Tree of Life' Wins Three San Francisco Critics Awards, Including Best Picture "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy's" Gary Oldman and "We Need to Talk About Kevin's" Tilda Swinton claim the group's top acting prizes. Complete Awards Coverage on THR's The Race Visit THR's The Race blog for more breaking news, expert analysis and predictions related to the awards season. ABC News' GOP Debate Most-Watched of Season So Far Saturday's telecast averaged 7.6 million total viewers. FILM REVIEW: 'Flowers of War' Based on Yan Geling's novel "13 Flowers of Nanjing," the Nanjing massacre plays front and center in director Zhang Yimou's tale starring Christian Bale. MOVIES EXCLUSIVE: 'Thor 2' Closing in on New Director and Writer Alan Taylor and Daniel Minahan are being eyed to helm, while three screenwriters are in the mix. Awards Box Office: 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' Is No. 3 Specialty Opening of 2011 Jason Reitman's Charlize Theron starrer "Young Adult" also enjoys strong start. Foreign Box Office: 'Puss in Boots' Purrs to No. 1 Overseas "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part I" places second while "New Year's Eve" opens softly. IM Global Nabs Thriller Script 'Kidnap' Knate Gwaltney wrote the script about a woman whose son is kidnapped at a local mall and who races to find his abductors, while William Brent Bell is attached to direct. TV Alec Baldwin Mocks American Airlines Controversy on 'Saturday Night Live' The "30 Rock" actor responds to being kicked off a flight last week by dressing as Captain Steve Rogers and apologizing to Baldwin, who he calls "an American treasure." EXCLUSIVE: CBS Wants Matt Lauer to Join '60 Minutes' With reports circling that Ryan Seacrest may join "Today," the "60 Minutes" executive producer Jeff Fager says he would "love" to have Lauer at the broadcast. Lifetime Cancels 'Against the Wall' The procedural, led by Rachael Carpani, debuted to 1.8 million viewers in July. Kids TV Vet Andy Heyward, Wife Announce Joint Venture With Indian Company Tata A Squared Elxsi Entertainment will be funded by the mega-conglomerate with plans to develop and distribute original entertainment for children, including animation, video games and consumer products. Lowe's Pulls Ads from TLC Show 'All-American Muslim' But a TLC rep says: "There is strong advertising support for the show."

THE BUSINESS AFTRA, Networks Reach New Three-Year Deal Wage increases are two percent per year, as expected, while health and retirement contributions receive a one percent bump. Separately, the union and record labels restart talks on sound recording deal. Man Shot in the Face in L.A. Shooting Is Longtime Music Industry Executive John Atterberry has been involved with acts like The Spice Girls, Brandy and Jessica Simpson. Sony Steps Up Manufacturing After Pre-Orders Land F65 4K Camera in U.S. Top 200 The cameras are scheduled to ship out to customers in early January. ICM Executives to Buy Out Majority Owner Rizvi Traverse Chairman Jeff Berg, president Chris Silbermann and others will transform ICM into an agent-owned partnership. Investors in Nicolas Cage Film 'Bad Lieutenant' Sue Claiming Bad Accounting Polsky Films, which put up P&A money on Warner Herzog's 'Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call—New Orleans,' says that Nu Image and First Look Studios ran away with 2009 film's proceeds.

STYLE 10 of Hollywood's Priciest Pieces of History: 'Friends' Couch to 'Oz's' Ruby Reds Looking for a unique one-of-a-kind Christmas present? THR highlights memorable pieces from the Profiles in History's Icons of Hollywood auction being held in Beverly Hills on Dec. 15-16. Hollywood Real Estate Deals of the Week: Beyonce, Jay-Z, Blake Lively Who's buying and who's selling -- for the week ending Dec. 9.

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