Overall box office was up 7% from last year's distressing frame that saw the top spot go to New Year's Eve ($13.5 million), as it is the calm before The Hobbit storm...
With no new real competition out, and spectacular word-of-mouth going around, Skyfall claimed the top spot one month after it claimed it the first time. The 23rd James Bond flick nabbed $10.8 million, down just 35% from last week, and bringing its' five-week total to a super-impressive $261.4 million! The last time a movie claimed the top spot in its' fifth weekend (after topping its' first and retreating the next three) was How To Train Your Dragon, which earned $15 million in its' fifth weekend. Skyfall will likely drop harder next weekend in the face of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, but an expected bump from Christmas and New Year's should help it to finish close to or above $300 million in the U.S. alone.
Also benefiting from good word-of-mouth, DreamWorks Animation's Rise of the Guardians rose to the runner-up position and actually was within whisper distance of #1. The latest from the animation giant saw a Top 10-best 22% ease to $10.4 million, for a $61.8 million gross in 19 days. The good news is that families are catching up with this, the bad news is that its' now impossible for the movie to finish anywhere close to its' pricey budget ($145 million). However, this particular flick probably won't be hit hard by Hobbit, as that movie isn't exactly top-shelf family entertainment. The real test will come the following week when Christmas vacations start and Monsters, Inc.'s 3D re-release and Parental Guidance arrive as competition.
After three weeks on top, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part II, like its' predecessor, fled to the third spot, down 47% to $9.2 million, for a $268.7 million tally in 24 days and is now outpacing New Moon. Whether or not it will reach $300 million will depend on how hard it falls in the face of The Hobbit next weekend. Steven Spielberg's awards season front-runner Lincoln followed with another exceptional hold, down 33% to $8.9 million, for a $97.1 million gross in one month of release, with the $100 million barrier set to fall by next weekend. Another awards season contender, Ang Lee's Life of Pi, also recovered, coming in fifth place for the third-straight weekend and easing 31% to $8.3 million, for a $60.9 million gross in 24 days, with much more to come.
And that leads us to the only new release, romantic comedy Playing for Keeps, which only debuted to $5.75 million in sixth place, for a per-theater average of an abysmal $2,027 from 2,837 theaters. Yes, that nearly matches Chasing Mavericks' final number, but its' nowhere near a reversal of fortune for the now not-box office draw Gerard Butler. On an upside, it did open at the high-end of analysts' very low expectations, but its' not gonna be enough to save it. Audiences did like it, as they gave it a "B+" CinemaScore, but critics gave it some of the worst reviews all year (2% on Rotten Tomatoes). With The Guilt Trip and This is 40 arriving in two weeks, the movie will likely disappear from theaters by the end of the year, and was produced for a reported $35 million by distributor FilmDistrict.
Wreck-it Ralph continued to chug along, down 30% from last weekend to $4.9 million, for a six-week total of $164.4 million, and will most likely finish around the same as Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa ($180 million). Red Dawn is surprisingly holding up well, easing a light 35% from last weekend to $4.2 million, for a decent $37.2 million in 19 days, and will likely earn another $10 million before it leaves theaters. Benefiting from possible awards attention, Denzel Washington's Flight was down only 30% to $3.1 million, for a $86.2 million gross in six weeks, and might just make it to $100 million if its' boosted by Christmas and New Year's. Last week's dud Killing Them Softly rounds out the Top 10, plunging 59% to $2.8 million, for a forgettable $11.8 million in 10 days, and will finish right at its' $15 million budget.
Internationally, Rise of the Guardians eked out the top spot with another $26.2 million from most major markets, bringing its' early international total to $90 million ($150 million worldwide). Life of Pi came in second with another $23.3 million from just 14 markets, for an impressive overseas tally of $105 million so far (and its' only in a quarter of the international marketplace). The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part II came in third with another $22.6 million, and has become the biggest movie in the franchise worldwide (at over $750 million). Skyfall added another $20 million from 84 territories, and became the biggest-grossing movie worldwide ever for Sony Pictures, as well as the largest-grossing movie of all-time in the UK. The 23rd James Bond movie has now earned over $900 million worldwide, and it will likely become only the 14th movie in history to pass $1 billion. Wreck-it Ralph rounded out the Top 5, continuing its' slow expansion, with another $5.8 million, for an overseas tally of just north of $50 million so far.
