It was a mixed bag this holiday weekend at the box office, as the newcomers didn’t perform that well despite Breaking Dawn – Part 2 being the top turkey for what is now the best five-day Thanksgiving box office ever.
The big news here is that 2012 marks the biggest five-day Thanksgiving box office haul ever, with an estimated $288 million cumulated at the domestic box office. As expected, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 led the pack, picking up $64 million over the five days. Number-wise, the haul was average, as it suffered a 69% drop, which is typical when talking about a massive film such as this, although Summit can’t complain as the worldwide total for the film is now sitting at a cool $577.7 million.
In second place was Skyfall, which continued its impressive box office run with a $51 million since Wednesday, putting the international tally up to $729 million, far and away the best performance for a James Bond film ever (not counting inflation).
In third place was another holdover, Lincoln continues to impress with a solid $34.1 million five-day total, although the added 234 theaters certainly helped. I don’t know what it is, but something about Lincoln seems to be a solid holiday choice for families, assuming there aren’t any younger ones who would likely get bored.
Finally we reach a newcomer, as DreamWorks Animation can’t be too stoked over the performance of Rise of the Guardians, which took in just $32.6 million over the five-day weekend for what is one of the studios worst openers ever. Life of Pi, meanwhile, impressed with a fifth place performance, taking in $30.1 million and an “A-” CinemaScore. Lastly Red Dawn stumbled into seventh place in the box office after pretty terrible critical reactions, taking in $22 million.
For Silver Linings Playbook, it was the first weekend in the top ten as the film widened into 367 theaters and took in $5.9 million. This number isn’t stellar, however, as proponents of the film (such as myself) will like to see solid box office returns to help its Oscars case.
Next weekend Andrew Dominik’s Killing Them Softly, starring Brad Pitt, will get a release into roughly 2,000 theaters, making another winning weekend for Breaking Dawn – Part 2 likely.
Here’s a breakdown of the top ten earners of the five-day weekend of November 21, 2012:
Weekend: $64 million ($226.9 million total)
Theaters: 4,070
Budget: $120 million
CinemaScore: A
Rotten Tomatoes: 51%
Hypable Grade: A-
2. Skyfall – $51.1 million ($221.7 million total)
3. Lincoln – $34 million ($62.1 million total)
4. Rise of the Guardians – $32.6 million
5. Life of Pi – $30.1 million
6. Wreck-It Ralph – $23 million ($149.5 million total)
7. Red Dawn – $22 million
8. Flight – $11.3 million ($74.8 million total)
9. Silver Linings Playbook – $5.9 million ($6.4 million total)
10. Argo – $5.1 million ($98.1 million total)