The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.
The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is always a busy time at the box office and while three new movies opened on Tuesday, Christmas Day, two of them doing well enough to best Peter Jackson’s epic The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (New Line/WB) for a couple of days, by the weekend, the Tolkien adaptation had once again showed its dominion and moved back into first place with $32.9 million in 4,100 theaters. Even though it was down 11% from last week, by Friday it had crossed the $200 million domestically and has earned $222.7 million total as well as grossing over $600 million worldwide. So far, The Hobbit has made $50 million in its global IMAX run, adding another $4.3 domestically and $4.1 million internationally in IMAX theaters over the weekend.
Opening on Tuesday, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (The Weinstein Co.), the follow-up to his Oscar-nominated Inglourious Basterds, this one starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson and Kerry Washington, came in second place over the weekend with $30.7 million to bring its total to $64 million total.
Also this week, The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper tackled the hit stage musical Les Miserables (Universal) with an all-star cast including Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen, which opened on Tuesday in 2,814 theaters. It won Christmas Day with $18.2 million, but by Friday the film had started to fall behind “Django” and by Sunday it was left with $28 million for the three-day weekend to take third place with a six-day total of $67.4 million. “Les MIs” also opened internationally on Christmas Day where it brought in an additional $38.3 million this weekend in eight territories, including Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea, the latter where it beat The Hobbit. It has grossed $48.7 million internationally since Tuesday, bringing its worldwide total to $116.2 million.
Another global milestone was crossed by the 23rd James Bond movie, Skyfall (Sony), which crossed $1 billion worldwide over the holidays with an additional $4.6 million domestic and $10.3 million added this weekend. To date, the film’s domestic total stands at $289.6 million and overseas total at $710.6 million.
The third Christmas Day release was director Andy Fickman’s family comedy Parental Guidance (20th Century Fox), starring Billy Crystal and Bette Midler, which made an estimated $14.8 million over the weekend to bring its total to $29.6 million.
Tom Cruise’s crime thriller Jack Reacher (Paramount) fell to fifth place in its second weekend with $14 million, down 10% from last week, and a ten-day total of $44.7 million.
Judd Apatow’s mid-life comedy This Is 40 (Universal), starring Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann, had a tiny bump (up 14%) in its second weekend to make $13.2 million for sixth place. It has grossed $37.2 million in ten days.
Steven Spielberg’s period drama Lincoln (DreamWorks), starring Daniel Day-Lewis, continues to do big business despite losing theaters and having not played in more than 2,500 theaters to date. This weekend it dropped to seventh place but brought in an additional $7.5 million over the weekend to bring its running domestic total to $132 million.
The Seth Rogen-Barbra Streisand road comedy The Guilt Trip (Paramount) got a nice bump in its second weekend, up 24% to gross $6.7 million for eighth place. It’s grossed $21.1 million so far. Disney’s Monsters, Inc. 3D also got a bump, up 33% for a weekend gross of $6.4 million to take ninth place with $18.5 million total.
The Top 10 was rounded out by DreamWorks Animation’s holiday film Rise of the Guardians with $4.9 million and $90.4 million total.
Director David O. Russell’s dramedy Silver Linings Playbook (The Weinstein Company), starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, expanded nationwide on Christmas Day into 745 theaters and over the weekend it brought in another $4.1 million to bring its total to $27.4 million, although it fell outside the Top 10 to take 12th place.
As far as the limited releases, the Matt Damon-John Krasinski drama Promised Land (Focus Features) opened on Friday in 25 theaters, bringing in roughly $190 thousand ($7.6 thousand per site) as it gears up for a nationwide expansion on Friday, January 4. Opening on Christmas Day in five theaters, the Peter Jackson-produced documentary West of Memphis (Sony Pictures Classics), directed by Amy Berg, took in $22.8 thousand with $13.9 thousand of that over the weekend.
The big movie playing in limited release though was Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty (Sony), which opened in five theaters on December 19 and has now grossed $1.4 million in those theaters. It expands nationwide on January 11, a day after the Oscar nominations.
Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.
