The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, Skyfall, and Lincoln remained in their respective slots as the number one, two, and three films in North America this weekend in spite of competition from three new major releases.
The final Twilight film took in $64 million in its extended second weekend. Even with an almost 70% drop week over week, the movie was still strong enough to hold the top spot.
Skyfall continues its impressive worldwide run with strong North American box office netting another $51 million dollars over the long holiday weekend. While not exactly as sexy as James Bond, the political intrigue of Lincoln still remains a strong draw with $34 million in ticket sales. The popularity of the presidential portrait is keeping the movie at the forefront of award season conversations. Expect to see Lincoln play strong all the way through the end of the year.
The new releases helped bolster the strong financials, led by the DreamWorks animated family film Rise of the Guardians with $32 million, which was good enough for fourth place, although everyone agrees the opening is underwhelming. Last year saw a slew of holiday themed films underperform at the box office. Apparently American audiences are tiring of the predictable annual holiday themed animated releases. I attribute this to a glut of product choking the pipeline. With the success of Hotel Transylvania in October, and Wreck-It Ralph in November, there has been very little real estate for a new animated film to carve out an audience. In spite of positive reviews, Rise of the Guardians may end up a disappointment.
Ang Lee's visual feast Life of Pi rode a wave of good reviews and mind blowing visuals to a $30 million opening weekend. The adaptation had a costly $120 million dollar price tag. While the film is being sold on its three dimensional merits, it's going to take a strong hold next week to see if the film has some life left.
The remake of the 80's propaganda classic Red Dawn had been on the shelf for years gathering dust, but thanks to Chris Hemsworth and some nifty counter-programming strategy the movie was able to generate $22 million over the extended holiday weekend and crack the top 10 in seventh place.
Next week is pretty sparse. Traditionally American theaters don't put out a lot of new product the week after a holiday. Brad Pitt stars in Killing Them Softly which sees a modest release. And what better way to celebrate the holiday season than with a brutal horror film? The sequel The Collection gets a theatrical release. Don't expect much of a change in the rankings next week.
Here's your top films for North America...
1. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
Weekend Estimate: $64 million; $226 million total
2. Skyfall
Weekend Estimate: $51 million; $221 million total
3. Lincoln
Weekend Estimate: $34 million; $62 million total
4. Rise of the Guardians
Weekend Estimate: $32 million
5. Life of Pi
Weekend Estimate: $30 million
Anghus Houvouras
