Happy Thanksgiving to our American readers and Happy Thursday to everyone else! (Or Friday if you live in Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, etc.)
A quick update on the Thanksgiving weekend box office based on Wednesday estimates. It looks like Summit Entertainment’s supernatural romance drama The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 will be winning its second weekend based on the estimated $12.5 to 13 million it took in on Wednesday, which could point to a five-day week anywhere between $60 and 70 million depending on how much business it does over the weekend.
Disney’s The Muppets, co-starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams, made $6.6 million in its opening day according to estimates, and it could amass as much as $45 million or slightly more by Sunday, which would put it in the Top 10 for Thanksgiving openers.
Happy Feet Two (Warner Bros.) brought in roughly $3.5 million on Wednesday to take third place and it probably will end up with between $22 and 24 million for the extended holiday weekend.
Sony Pictures Animation’s Arthur Christmas had a relatively weak opening with just $2.4 million in its opening day but it’s going to have the biggest bump from the weekend because holiday movies always do well over Thanksgiving weekend and it could stretch that amount to anywhere between $18 and 21 million by Sunday.
Martin Scorsese’s Hugo seems to be faltering with an eighth place opening on its first day with an estimated $1.7 million, although one has to bear in mind that it opened in less than 1,300 theaters, roughly 2,000 less theaters than the other openers. It’s looking to end up somewhere around $11 million by Sunday, making one wonder whether Paramount will still follow through with its plan to expand the movie into more theaters early in December.
Check back on Sunday for the full five-day box office report and enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving!
