Weekend Wrap-Up
Thanksgiving Bountiful at the Box Office
By John Hamann
November 30, 2008
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa manages a sixth place finish this weekend and like Bolt, the winners of the weekend are aimed at the kids. Madagascar 2 pulled in $14.5 million, just a 7% drop from last weekend's take of $15.7 million. The hold will be a relief for Paramount and DreamWorks, as last weekend Madagascar 2 dropped 55% against Bolt and Twilight. So far, Madagascar 2 has earned $159.5 million, and while it doesn't look like it will approach the $193 million the original did, $185 million for the sequel isn't out of the question.
Seventh is Transporter 3, the unnecessary sequel for the long holiday weekend. Transporter 2 managed to earn $20 million over the Labor Day weekend in 2005, but the third entry in the series doesn't quite find the same success over the Thanksgiving weekend three years later. Over three days, Transporter 3 earned $12.3 million from 2,626 venues, and found $18.5 million over five days. It will earn 2.5 times that over its run - and half of that again on foreign shores - before doing well on DVD.
Eighth goes to Role Models, as the counter-programming comedy continues its healthy run. Role Models earned $5.3 million over three-day portion of the weekend, and despite new comedy competition, only drops 28%. The $28 million comedy from Universal has now earned a very respectable $57.9 million.
Ninth goes to The Boy in Striped Pajamas, the Miramax surprise that finished in eighth last weekend. Miramax added about 175 venues this weekend, and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas earned $1.7 million. This small film has now earned $5.2 million domestically, and has taken in $20 million plus overseas.
Sean Penn's Milk is a complete surprise in tenth, as it opened the weekend in only 36 venues. Despite the tiny count, Milk managed to earn $1.4 million and had a remarkable venue average of $38,375. Since Milk is 93% fresh at RottenTomatoes, we are going to hear a lot about this one in the weekends to come, as Penn is the current favorite for a Best Actor nod.
Finally, Slumdog Millionaire finishes 11th with a gross of $1.4 million from only 49 venues. It's another Oscar favorite. Slumdog had a venue average of $27,890 and has a total so far of $3.6 million.
Overall, the 2008 Thanksgiving box office had a strong showing. The top 12 films this weekend earned a powerful $156.7 million, blowing away the same weekend in 2007's tally of $75.9 million (and keeping it ahead of last year's three-day Thanksgiving weekend tally of $150.6 million). Next weekend brings two small films and one big film. Openers include Cadillac Records and Nobel Son (the smaller films) and Punisher: War Zone, a sequel even more unnecessary than Transporter 3.
| 1 |
Four Christmases |
New Line Cinema |
$31,680,000 |
$31,069,826 |
New |
$46,054,468 |
| 2 |
Bolt |
Walt Disney Pictures |
$26,596,000 |
$26,581,002 |
+ 1.4% |
$66,848,840 |
| 3 |
Twilight |
Summit Entertainment |
$26,370,000 |
$26,344,032 |
- 62.2% |
$119,706,509 |
| 4 |
Quantum of Solace |
Columbia Pictures (Sony), MGM |
$19,500,000 |
$18,833,552 |
- 29.5% |
$141,418,534 |
| 5 |
Australia |
20th Century Fox |
$14,815,000 |
$14,800,723 |
New |
$20,004,456 |
| 6 |
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa |
DreamWorks |
$14,500,000 |
$14,207,329 |
- 9.3% |
$159,066,369 |
| 7 |
Transporter 3 |
Lionsgate |
$12,330,000 |
$12,063,452 |
New |
$18,230,758 |
| 8 |
Role Models |
Universal |
$5,284,463 |
$5,191,180 |
- 29.1% |
$57,780,820 |
| 9 |
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas |
Miramax Films |
$1,690,000 |
$1,696,187 |
+ 3.0% |
$5,169,495 |
| 10 |
Milk |
Focus Features |
$1,381,484 |
$1,453,844 |
New |
$1,941,472 |
| 11 |
Slumdog Millionaire |
Warner Independent Pictures |
$1,366,617 |
$1,346,039 |
+ 42.0% |
$3,544,374 |
| 12 |
Changeling |
Universal |
$1,206,698 |
$1,207,240 |
- 55.2% |
$33,849,632 |
| |
Also Opening/Notables |
| |
Oye Lucky! Oye Lucky! |
Utv |
N/A |
$42,399 |
New |
$61,507 |
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Click here for all weekend data
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Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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