I wish it were that simple, except there are times that a movie is released right before the New Year in major markets only, typically to get in just in time for Awards. "Monster's Ball" a couple of years ago was a good example. In Des Moines I dont think it came out until well into January.....
Having said all that, I suppose its irrelevant; as the real question was how do recent movies stack up to each other in our own opinions. I was using ROTK as a benchmark, whether it is this year or not can be debated elsewhere......