The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey easily passed I Am Legend for the highest weekend box office opening in December ever, making Peter Jackson’s return to Middle Earth a pleasant one.
Already sitting at $141 million worldwide, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey took in $84.7 million stateside, beating out I Am Legend‘s $77 million to gain that distinction. With an “A” CinemaScore, audiences embraced the film in a way critics have not yet done (65% on Rotten Tomatoes and 58 on MetaCritic), although the 3D screens clearly helped this one reach that mark.
The only deterrent for the film is that it suffered a 25% drop on Sunday, making its final weekend estimate dip from the high $90 million range to its current $84.7 million. Looking down the rest of the list, Lincoln stands out again as it jumped into third place on the box office chart with an impressive $7.2 million, and with weekend actuals arriving tomorrow, it’s possible it could take second as Rise of the Guardians currently sits at $7.4 million.
Elsewhere, Silver Linings Playbook had another strong week in limited release. Despite having plans to expand the film into 1,000 theaters this weekend, The Weinstein Co. kept it in 371 theaters and only dipped 4% from last weekend, bringing in $2 million for the tenth spot on the weekend box office chart. No doubt helped by its recent Golden Globe nominations, hopefully the film will expand post-Christmas into more theaters.
With the Christmas box office schedule ahead of us, next week we’ll have a ton of new films between Wednesday and Friday openers, as the likes of This Is 40, The Guilt Trip, and Jack Reacher open in wide release.
Here’s a breakdown of the top ten earners for the weekend of Dec. 14, 2012:
Weekend: $84.7 million
Theaters: 4,045
Budget: $150 million
CinemaScore: A
Rotten Tomatoes: 65%
Hypable Grade: C+
2. Rise of the Guardians – $7.4 million ($71.3 million total)
3. Lincoln – $7.2 million ($107.8 million total)
4. Skyfall – $7 million ($272.3 million total)
5. Life of Pi – $5.4 million ($69.5 million total)
6. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 – $5.1 million ($276.8 million total)
7. Wreck-It Ralph – $3.2 million ($168.7 million total)
8. Playing for Keeps – $3.2 million ($10.8 million total)
9. Red Dawn – $3.1 million ($96.2 million total)
10. Silver Linings Playbook – $2 million ($16.9 million total)