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 weekend after Thanksgiving has never been a great one to release a movie, but this weekend’s two offerings barely even made a mark with Brad Pitt having one of his worst openings for a wide release as Andrew Dominik’s gangster thriller Killing Them Softly (The Weinstein Company) didn’t even crack the Top 5.
Instead, the top six movies remained the same with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (Summit) pulling a three-peat by remaining at #1 for the third weekend in a row, bringing in $17.4 million and taking its total gross to $254 million. Down 60% from the Thanksgiving weekend, it’s slightly ahead of the previous chapter which had grossed $247 million by its own third weekend. It also grossed $48.4 million overseas to bring its global total to date to $702.4 million.
The 23rd James Bond film Skyfall (Sony/MGM), directed by Sam Mendes, also
held its ground, remaining in second place for a third week in a row and closing the gap with “Breaking Dawn” by grossing $17 million over the weekend and bringing its four-week total to $246 million. It grossed an additional $34 million overseas to bring its global total to $869 million.
Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (DreamWorks), starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the nation’s 16th President, continues to do big business despite only playing in roughly 2,000 theaters. It remained in third place for its third weekend with $13.6 million, down 47% from the holiday weekend, and taking its gross to $83.7 million. DreamWorks distributor Walt Disney Pictures still plans on expanding the movie wider, although they may be waiting to see how the upcoming critics awards and other nominations pan out.
DreamWorks Animation’s Rise of the Guardians was right behind it in fourth place with $13.5 million, down a respectable 43% from its opening weekend and bringing its total to $48.9 million in 12 days. It added another $40 million overseas to bring its international total to $57 million, which might end up being the holiday adventure film’s savior.
The animated film also remained just ahead of Ang Lee’s Life of Pi (20th Century Fox), which brought in $12 million in its second weekend of wide release to take fifth place, with its domestic total falling right behind “Guardians” with $48.4 million.
The animated family adventure Wreck-It Ralph (Walt Disney) took the second-biggest plunge in the Top 10, dropping 58% to bring in $7 million for sixth place. It has grossed $158.2 million since opening in early November.
Brad Pitt teamed with Australian filmmaker Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) for the gangster thriller Killing Them Softly (The Weinstein Company), co-starring Scott McNairy (Argo), Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises), Ray Liotta and James Gandolfini. Opening in 2,424 theaters, it failed to bring in the type of business Pitt normally sees, grossing just $7 million to take seventh place with approximately $2.9 thousand per site.
The long-delayed Red Dawn (FilmDistrict) remake dropped to eighth place with $6.5 million, down 54% from its opening weekend. It has grossed $31.3 million so far.
Robert Zemeckis’s Flight, starring Denzel Washington, took ninth place with $4.5 million, having grossed $81.5 million to date.
The grisly horror sequel The Collection (LD Entertainment) from the writers of the “Saw” franchise opened in 1,403 theaters nationwide on Friday and was able to bring in $3.4 million to round off the Top 10, which grossed roughly $101 million, up 31% from last year when no new movies were given a wide release.
Falling just outside the Top 10, David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook (The Weinstein Company), starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, held well with $3.3 million, down just 24% from last weekend despite not adding any theaters of significance. It’s grossed just $11 million and one expects that the Weinstein Company will expand it nationwide gradually over the coming month.
Two weeks after opening in limited release, Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina (Focus Features), starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law, expanded into 384 theaters and that was enough to help it take 12th place with $2.2 million and a three-week total of $4 million.
Opening in 172 locations, the Bollywood thriller Talaash (Reliance Entertainment), starring Indian superstar Aamir Khan, grossed just under $2 million over the weekend. That’s roughly 11,600 per site, showing the box office draw of Khan, the star of the Bollywood hit 3 Idiots.
Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.
