The box office results for the weekend of November 18th – 20th feels the mighty power of “The Twilight Saga” once again. And unfortunately, that’s something dancing penguins couldn’t keep up with. Here are the studio estimates:
1. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 ($139.5 million)
2. Happy Feet Two ($22 million)
3. Immortals ($12.2 million)
4. Jack and Jill ($12 million)
5. Puss in Boots ($10.7 million)
6. Tower Heist ($6.9 million)
7. J. Edgar ($5.9 million)
8. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas ($2.9 million)
9. In Time ($1.6 million)
10. The Descendants ($1.2 million)
Analysis
“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” threatened a couple records, but that’s about it. Friday’s $72 million was third best all-time for an opening day release (behind New Moon and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2). It just missed a franchise mark, too, coming in $3 million behind New Moon’s stat line. And the monster weekend take is more important than ever this time around for the budget ballooned to $110 million. Now that reported number could include this and Part 2, since the core cast members were only signed on to do four Twilight films; leading there to be a solid chance that some tactful negotiations were done for the upcoming finale. Either way, history shows that next weekend will see a massive drop (as always the case with Twilight flicks), but this should be able to creep towards the upper echelon of the $200 million range on the domestic front.
Now although “Happy Feet Two” kind of got lost in the Twilight shuffle, the one advantage this sequel has is a possible long shelf-life during the holiday season. That said though, a crowded slate of fam-friendly products are on the horizon (as in 3 days), therefore, that $135 million production budget is going to weigh heavy for Warner Bros. in the weeks ahead. And in that case, Flop Alert.
Sleeper Hit: “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.” If you told me that this would still be in the top ten for nearly a month, well, nothing would happen. The $19 million production is going to faze out around the $35 million mark on the domestic side which has to be considered a good run for Warner Bros. Plus this already has a niche following that will eat this up on the home video platform.
“The Descendants” posted a nice showing despite being in just 29 theaters. Fox Searchlight will be rolling this Oscar contender out over the next few weeks.
This Thanksgiving has a hearty dose of fam-friendly flicks hitting theaters on Wednesday. Look for “The Muppets”, “Hugo” and “Arthur Christmas” to battle it out for second place (since Twilight will hold the top spot at least one more week, thanks to its fans seeing it multiple times). In limited fashion – and just in time for the award season push – the biopic “My Week With Marilyn” opens on Friday along with “The Artist.” Reviews will be right here my fellow Shockers!
Report by Joe Belcastro
