King of Kong director Seth Gordon had a lucrative weekend thanks to his new holiday movie Four Christmases. The movie placed first at the box office over the weekend, earning $31.1 million. Counting the extended weekend, Four Christmases pulled in $46.7 million.

Gordon’s previous movie, The King of Kong, documents the efforts of underdog Steve Wiebe as he attempts to usurp the world point record in Donkey Kong, held by egoist Billy Mitchell. The documentary, which is now available on DVD, won several awards including Best Documentary from the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association.

Four Christmases is takes a pretty sharp turn from Gordon’s last effort. The film, starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon, is a romantic comedy in which the stars are forced to visit all four of their divorced parents during the holidays despite successfully avoiding them in the past. With no other holiday films in the running this weekend, it’s no surprise this was the topic pick for moviegoers.

The film led the way to the second-biggest Thanksgiving weekend box office performance in history, even though critics are mostly panning it for its cliché writing and stereotypical situations. Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregation site, found that 27 percent of critics gave negative reviews. Depressingly and unsurprisingly, a bad movie with popular actors beats out a great movie about Donkey Kong.

Don’t give up hope just yet, however. Gordon’s next movie, The Only Living Boy in New York, will reportedly feature a different writer than Four Christmases. With any luck gaming’s golden boy of documentaries will find critical success once again.