The box office results for the weekend of November 16th – 18th sees The Twilight Saga going out with a financial boom with Breaking Dawn – Part 2. Other than that, Lincoln went into wide-release mode and Skyfall held up well despite the hefty new arrivals. Here are the studio estimates:
1. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 ($141.3 million)
2. Skyfall ($41.5 million)
3. Lincoln ($21 million)
4. Wreck-It Ralph ($18.3 million)
5. Flight ($8.6 million)
6. Argo ($4 million)
7. Taken 2 ($2.1 million)
8. Pitch Perfect ($1.2 million)
9. Here Comes the Boom ($1.2 million)
10. Jab Tak Hai Jaan ($1.1 million)
Analysis
No one at Summit Entertainment is going to be concerned about the production budget of a reported $120-$131 million for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part – 2. The opening day gross ($71.9 million) is the 6th largest all-time, thanks in part to midnight and select 10 p.m. screenings Thursday night. As for the weekend number, that is good for second best in the franchise (New Moon hit $142.8 million) and should lead to this finale reaching in the high $200 millions on the domestic front. And it’s already crushing it in overseas territories. Critically, this one isn’t getting dumped on as hard as its predecessors, but let’s face it, reviews do not matter with this sucker.
The only other newbie came in the form of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, which expanded to nearly 1800 theaters after opening in just 11 last week. Constructed for $65 million, this award contender could hang around much like a case of Montezuma’s Revenge (long-time). The lovely critics are in full-support and the flick should benefit from steady weekday showings.
Skyfall dropped a standard 53% in week #2 and is now up to $161.3 million stateside. It will become the highest grossing James Bond film of all-time later this week.
Pitch Perfect currently holds the longest streak in the top ten with 8 weeks. Universal Pictures Fall season surprise has now reached $61 million on the home-front off a production budget of $17 million.
This week, the holiday movie season kicks in to full gear. Wednesday before Turkey day serves up Life of Pi, Red Dawn, Rise of the Guardians, and Silver Linings Playbook (now that’s a cinematic buffet – which in turn, is a cheesy joke by me). On Friday, Hitchcock sneaks into about 16 theaters. Reviews will be right here my fellow Shockers!
