The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.
The pre-Christmas box office continues to be rather lackluster with only one movie grossing more than $20 million this weekend, that movie being Disney’s TRON: Legacy, directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Garrett Hedlund, Jeff Bridges and Olivia Wilde, which took in an estimated $43.6 million in 3,451 theaters. The movie did particularly well in IMAX 3D where it grossed an estimated $10.3 million in just 234 theaters, making up 23% of its weekend box office in less than 7% of its theaters. With an IMAX per-screen average of over $44k, it was clear that moviegoers who had the option and ability to see the movie in IMAX 3D went that route. Internationally, TRON: Legacy opened to $23 million for a worldwide total of $66.6 million after one weekend.
Coming in a distant second was the live action family comedy Yogi Bear (Warner Bros), featuring the voices of Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake, with $16.7 million in 3,515 theaters. That falls below most projections for the film’s opening but going by past family openers like Charlotte’s Web, it can easily pick up a lot of family business over the busy week between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Fox Walden) dropped to third place with $12.4 million, down 48% from last week, and bringing its domestic total to $42.8 million. “Dawn Treader” added $29.9 million overseas for a foreign total of $124.4 million. The third installment has earned $167.2 million worldwide.
David O. Russell’s The Fighter starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo, expanded nationwide into roughly 2,500 theaters allowing it to take 4th place with $12.2 million.
Columbia Pictures’ The Tourist, starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, dropped to fifth place with $8.7 million, down 47% from its opening weekend with a ten-day gross of $30.8 million. It came out slightly ahead of Disney’s Tangled, which added another $8.7 million to bring its impressive four-week take of $128 million.
Darren Aronofsky’s psychological thriller Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman, expanded nationwide into over 900 theaters where it grossed $8.3 million, averaging over $8,500 per theater, which is the second-highest per-theater average in the Top 10. It has grossed $15.7 million since opening three weeks ago and with a further expansion next week, it should become Aronofsky’s highest grossing film by New Year’s Day.
Opening in eighth place, James L. Brooks’ star-studded romantic comedy How Do You Know (Sony), starring Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd and Jack Nicholson, tanked with just $7.6 million in 2,483 theaters, another expensive bomb for Sony following last week’s The Tourist and falling in line with the failed Did You Hear About the Morgans?, which opened to $6.6 million the same weekend last year.
The fall’s biggest blockbuster so far, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, took in another $4.8 million in ninth place to bring its total to $265.5 million. Internationally, the film earned $24.3 million this weekend for a foreign total of $558.6 million. The film has reached $824.1 million and has climbed to No. 30 on the all-time worldwide box office list.
Tony Scott’s Unstoppable (20th Century Fox) closed off the Top 10 with $1.8 million and $77.3 million.
The gross of the Top 10 at the box office was roughly even with the same weekend last year when James Cameron’s Avatar opened with $77 million for first place on its way to becoming the highest-grossing domestic movie of all time.
Opening in five theaters in New York and L.A., John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole (Lionsgate), starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart, brought in $55 thousand, while the late George Hickenlooper’s Casino Jack, starring Kevin Spacey, did $35 thousand in seven theaters.
Click here for the full box office results of the top 12 films.
