Well, 2013 is off to a bit of a surprise as Texas Chainsaw 3D takes down The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, stopping the fantasy flick from taking the #1 spot four weekends in a row.
Led by rapper Trey Songz, Texas Chainsaw scored $23 million, which, however, is still shy of The Devil Inside‘s January horror movie opening record of a whopping $33.7 million. Chainsaw only scored a “C+” CinemaScore, however, so I don’t expect a repeat next weekend against Gangster Squad and the expanding Zero Dark Thirty.
As far as predictions go, Laremy reader predictions, most followed Laremy’s lead with a lot of love for Django, but a few went against the grain, with Joie delivering an on-the-nose $23 million prediction. Excellent work.
The Hobbit wasn’t even able to score second place as it was topped by Quentin Tarantino‘s Django Unchained, which brought in $20 million from 3,010 theaters and has now crossed the $100 million domestic mark, totaling a $106.4 million cume.
We find Peter Jackson‘s Hobbitses in third with $17.5 million with the pic crossing $263.8 million domestically.
Another film crossing the $100 million mark along with Django was Best Picture contender Les Miserables, which brought in $16.1 million this weekend and has now grossed $103.6 million domestically.
After a limited opening last week, Gus Van Sant‘s Matt Damon-led Promised Land expanded to 1,676 theaters, but couldn’t manage a top ten finish, bringing in $4.3 million. Just enough to take that #10 spot.
Additionally, Zero Dark Thirty expanded from five to 60 theaters this weekend and brought in $2.7 million for a per theater average of a whopping $45,833. The film will go nationwide next weekend, January 11.
Silver Linings Playbook fell just outside the top ten with $3.6 million, raising its cume to $34.6 million as some are expecting the Harvey Oscar machine to kick in soon and put that Silver Linings on the Best Picture top line (I don’t see it, but would welcome it). And The Impossible added 15 more theaters and is now up to 572 and managed $2.7 million this weekend.
Next weekend will see the release of Gangster Squad and A Haunted House, but my money is on Zero Dark Thirty expanding nationwide after it’s nominated for Best Picture on Thursday and taking the top spot. What do you think?
