The box office results for the weekend of December 7th – 9th has November veterans, led by Skyfall, occupying the top five slots; while the only newbie, Playing for Keeps, barely got into the game. Here are the studio estimates:
1. Skyfall ($11 million)
2. Rise of the Guardians ($10.5 million)
3. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 ($9.2 million)
4. Lincoln ($9.1 million)
5. Life of Pi ($8.3 million)
6. Playing for Keeps ($6 million)
7. Wreck-It Ralph ($4.9 million)
8. Red Dawn 2012 ($4.3 million)
9. Flight ($3.1 million)
10. Killing Them Softly ($2.7 million)
Analysis
Unless all the women of the world (literally) come out to see Gerard Butler’s latest flick over the next couple weeks, Playing for Keeps is already on Flop Alert. Ringing up a $35 million production bill on a relatively small product – most likely due to the notable ensemble cast – this will be lucky enough to reach $15 million stateside. And when factoring in it being one of the worst reviewed movies of the year, not even a healthy DVD/On-Demand can avoid FilmDistrict using the red ink.
Wreck-It Ralph and Flight currently hold the longest streaks in the top ten with 6 weeks apiece. Ralph has played its way up to $164.4 million domestically. Disney’s 3D animation still has some work to do though, for the international totals have only brought this up to just over $200 million worldwide; production budget was $165 million. Meanwhile, the Denzel Washington drama has tapered off with $86.1 million.
Skyfall has reached $261.4 million stateside, and its record-setting international total has just crossed the $900 million mark.
This Friday, expect the record-book writers to be on alert, as The Hobbit marks the return of the billion dollar Lord of the Rings franchise to theaters. Review will be right here my fellow Shockers!
