This week’s box office broke the record for a Thanksgiving weekend, so we’re including both 3-day and 5-day weekend totals to show just how much dough each film raked in over the Holiday.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 once again comes in at number 1 this week with a 3-day gross of $43 million and a 5-day gross of $64 million. The epic conclusion to Summit Entertainment’s blockbuster franchise is now up to $226 million in total domestic grosses, and has surpassed the first Twilight‘s $192 million tally. Next up is Breaking Dawn Part 1 with $281 million.
At number 2 this weekend is Skyfall with $36 million for the weekend and a 5-day total of $51 million. James Bond’s 23rd adventure has been generating a ton of positive critical buzz and is now the highest grossing film in the franchise with $221 million. Apparently, audiences are quite fond of Daniel Craig’s take on 007.
Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is the number 3 film with $25 million and a 5-day total of $24 million. Like many of the films released during this fall season, Lincoln has been generating a tremendous amount of awards show buzz – due in no small part to a critically-lauded performance from Daniel Day Lewis – and is now up to $62 million in domestic grosses.
Coming in at number 4 is the first of this week’s new releases, Rise of the Guardians (read our review), with $24 million for the weekend and $32 million over 5 days. The film, which depicts many childhood fairytales like the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny as pseudo-superheroes, was perfect Thanksgiving weekend fodder, but failed to crack the top 3.
Though the film has an interesting art style and a star studded cast of voice actors, it looks like it will struggle to make back its $145 million budget domestically. Nonetheless, Rise of the Guardians is the highest grossing “family” film of the weekend.
Rounding out the top 5 is Life of Pi (read our review) with $22 million and a 5-day total of $30 million. Ang Lee’s adaptation of Yann Martel’s best-selling, and potentially unfilmable, novel was a tough sell out of the gate, and is going to need some help to make back its $120 million budget. Strong word of mouth and potential awards show love could make that more likely, though.
Wreck-It Ralph is this weekend’s number 6 film with $16 million and a 5-day total of $23 million. Despite sharing the animated crowd with Rise of the Guardians, the Disney Animation Studios film was able to post respectable 4th weekend numbers, and is now at $149 million in total domestic grosses. It now, unfortunately, looks unlikely to catch up with Tangled‘s $200 million tally.
The only other wide release this weekend, Red Dawn (read our review), comes in at number 7 with $14 million and a 5-day total of $22 million. A remake of the 80s cult classic, this Red Dawn trades Charlie Sheen and Patrick Swayze for Josh Peck and Chris Hemsworth, and an invading army of Soviets for North Koreans.
Trailers suggested the action, stakes, and interpersonal relationships of the original are there, but a somewhat tepid Holiday opening indicates moviegoers just weren’t interested in the film. We can only imagine how much money the film would have made if it had been released back in 2010, as it was originally intended, before Thor and The Avengers.
Flight comes in at number 8 with $8 million for the weekend, and $11 million over 5 days. The team-up of Robert Zemeckis and Denzel Washington has already surpassed its $31 million budget and has raked in $74 million in domestic grosses.
Despite only increasing its theater count to 367 screens, Silver Linings Playbook (read our review) was able to crack the top 10 with $4 million for the weekend and $5 million over 5 days. Director David O. Russel’s unique examination of mental illness has been generating rave reviews for stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, and will presumably benefit from strong word of mouth. Thankfully it won’t need too much help to make back its $21 million budget.
And finally at number 10 is Argo with $4 million and a 5-day total of $5 million. Ben Affleck’s third feature (as a director) has enjoyed a 7-week run in the top 10, spending several weeks at number 1, but it looks like it will bow out having raked in $98 million over those seven weeks.
In other box office news, Hitchcock (read our review) opened on only 17 screens and pulled in $301,000 ($17,706 per screen) over the Holiday weekend. Like the HBO film The Girl, Hitchcock seeks to show a different side of the iconic director (played by Anthony Hopkins) as he creates some of his most celebrated works. It opens in wider release next weekend.
–
