Weekend Wrap-Up

Post-Thanksgiving Doldrums Fail To Wipe Out Box Office

By John Hamann

December 2, 2012

That's good acting right there.

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Wreck-It Ralph stays in sixth place after a truly fantastic Thanksgiving holiday. Last weekend, it earned $16.6 million and dropped only 11% from the previous frame, despite being in its fourth weekend. This weekend, reality came calling, as Ralph earned only $7 million and fell 58%, one of the bigger drops in the top ten. Wreck-It Ralph cost $165 million to produce, and has earned $158.3 million domestically. It is still just getting started overseas, but has already brought in $50 million.

Brad Pitt’s Killing Them Softly opens in seventh this weekend, as the critically acclaimed hit man movie can’t find an audience. Killing Them Softly debuted to only $7 million from a forgettable 2,424 venues. It had a per location average of $2,888. A year ago, this type of debut would have landed it in top four or five, but with the power in this weekend’s top ten, it misses the top five. That’s hard for a film like this one, as it won’t get picked up in the Monday conversations about box office. If it does, it will be labeled a failure instead of a middling success. Killing Them Softly is 79% fresh at RottenTomatoes, but its legs are likely gone as it somehow earned a rare F Cinemascore from audiences. Pitt’s Plan B productions won’t be hurt by this one, though, as it cost only $15 million to make.

Red Dawn finishes eighth this weekend, and even its post-turkey hangover isn’t that bad. Red Dawn earned $6.6 million in this frame after getting started last weekend with a $14.3 million take. It dropped 55%, and its gross remains well off of the $65 million it took to get it to the screen. So far, the logic-challenged release has brought in $31.3 million.




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Ninth goes to Flight, which hangs on to a top ten spot despite being in its fifth weekend. The Denzel Washington flick earned another $4.5 million but dropped a serious 46% compared to last weekend’s holiday inflated session. Flight, which cost only $31 million to make, has now brought in $81.5 million domestically.

Tenth is The Collection, a sequel to the little-known horror movie The Collector from 2009. The gruesome flick earned $3.4 million, enough to put it just slightly ahead of Silver Linings Playbook's $3.3 million. The Collection came from LD Distribution, which somehow managed to secure 1,403 venues for the unwanted movie. Its budget was just $10 million, so while it probably won't break even, video revenues will probably make it worthwhile.

Overall this weekend, the box office stays quite hot despite the high percentage drops littered throughout the top 12 films. As I said at the top of this column, the top 12 films last year brought in $73.6 million, this year, the top 12 brought in $94 million. Next weekend, studios fear The Hobbit, so only one film opens, Playing For Keeps. Thus, Skyfall could be the number one film despite being in its fifth weekend.


Top Ten for Weekend of
Rank
Film
Distributor
Estimated
Gross ($)
Weekly
Change
Runing
Total
1 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 Summit Entertainment 17,410,000 -60% 254,592,504
2 Skyfall Sony Pictures 17,000,000 -52% 246,029,000
3 Lincoln Walt Disney 13,509,000 -47% 83,698,000
4 Rise of the Guardians Paramount Pictures 13,500,000 -43% 48,947,000
5 Life of Pi 20th Century Fox 12,000,000 -47% 48,361,141
6 Wreck-It Ralph Walt Disney 7,020,000 -58% 158,257,000
7 Killing Them Softly Weinstein Co. 7,000,000 New 7,000,000
8 Red Dawn Open Road 6,550,000 -54% 31,320,000
9 Flight Paramount Pictures 4,540,000 -46% 81,527,000
10 The Collection LD Distribution 3,409,224 New 3,409,224
11 Silver Linings Playbook Weinstein Co. 3,341,000 -24% 10,990,981
12 Anna Karenina Focus Features 2,229,678 +149% 4,083,569

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