Weekend Box Office (November 30 - December 2, 2012)

by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND The annual post-turkey blues kicked in as spending at the North American box office dropped by half compared to the record Thanksgiving frame with the top six movies still in command, though in a different order. The only major new offering was Brad Pitt's mob pic Killing Them Softly which died on impact failing to attract much business.

For the third weekend in a row, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 ruled the box office. The final chapter of the vampire soap opera took in $17.4M representing a drop of 60%, according to final studio figures. That was exactly the same fall that the last installment suffered this very weekend a year ago. With $254.6M to date, Part 2 is running 3% ahead of Part 1. Overseas, it grossed $48.4M this weekend boosting the international total to $447.8M and the worldwide haul to $702.4M.

Moviegoers kept coming out for James Bond as Skyfall grossed $16.6M in its fourth weekend declining by 53%. Sony has amassed $245.6M from North America to date. Following its disappointing opening, the DreamWorks Animation pic Rise of the Guardians dropped by an encouraging 44% in its second weekend to $13.4M boosting the 12-day cume to $48.8M. Kidpics often fall by 60% or so coming off of the turkey frame while Christmas movies hold up much better. Given Rise's semi-holiday theme, the decline was quite respectable. But the toon still hopes to show better legs in the weeks ahead in order to reach the heights of most recent 3D animated offerings from the DreamWorks stable.

Close behind in fourth place was Steven Spielberg's Lincoln with $13.4M as it continues to cash in on Oscar buzz. Off 48%, the Disney release has collected $83.6M to date, an impressive figure for a historical drama. It will join the century club soon. Ang Lee's 3D adventure Life of Pi held up well dropping 46% to $12.2M giving Fox $48.5M after 12 days. Tumbling 58% from the holiday, Disney's hit toon Wreck-It Ralph followed with $6.9M. The video game flick has grossed a sturdy $158.2M thus far.

Brad Pitt anchored his worst debut in nearly two decades with the gangster pic Killing Them Softly which was dead on arrival in sixth place grossing just $6.8M. Looking at the popular actor's past live-action films that opened nationwide on the first weekend, it was his worst debut since 1994. If that weren't bad enough, Killing got slaughtered by audiences polled by CinemaScore who gave The Weinstein Co. release a pathetic F grade. The horror pic The Devil Inside scored the same grade on the first weekend of the year and collapsed by 76% in its sophomore frame. Averaging just $2,811 from 2,424 theaters, Softly received fairly good reviews from critics but paying moviegoers were utterly disappointed.

The remake Red Dawn followed with $6.5M, off 55%, putting FilmDistrict's MGM production at $31.3M. Denzel Washington's popular drama Flight collected another $4.5M and has taken in $81.5M for Paramount thus far. The horror pic The Collection bowed in the number ten spot with $3.1M from 1,403 locations for a weak $2,213 average for LD Entertainment.

Below the top ten, Oscar hopefuls expanded their releases aiming for wider audiences and kudos cred. The period piece Anna Karenina widened from 66 to 384 locations in its third weekend and grossed $2.2M for a decent $5,848 average. The Focus title has made $4.1M. Fox Searchlight's Hitchcock went from 17 to 50 locations and grossed $408,692. Averaging a sturdy $8,174, the Anthony Hopkins-Helen Mirren drama upped its sum to $787,574.

The Indian crime drama Talaash scored a strong opening in limited release with $1.6M from 172 locations for a promising $9,527 average for Reliance Entertainment.

The top ten films grossed $100.7M which was up 44% from last year when The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 held steady at number one with $16.5M; and up 34% from 2010 when Tangled took over the top spot with $21.6M.


Compared to projections, Killing Them Softly opened below my $12M forecast.

Get earlier box office updates and analysis by following BoxOfficeGuru.com on Twitter.

Watch the trailer for Oz the Great and Powerful.

For a review of Breaking Dawn Part 2 visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Playing For Keeps opens.

# Title Nov 30 - Dec 2 Nov 23 - 25 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Twilight: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 $ 17,416,362 $ 43,641,448 -60.1 4,008 3 $ 4,345 $ 254,598,866 Summit
2 Skyfall 16,555,894 35,502,973 -53.4 3,463 4 4,781 245,585,083 Sony
3 Rise of the Guardians 13,388,852 23,773,465 -43.7 3,672 2 3,646 48,836,105 Paramount
4 Lincoln 13,376,696 25,676,413 -47.9 2,018 4 6,629 83,566,169 Disney
5 Life of Pi 12,151,853 22,451,514 -45.9 2,928 2 4,150 48,512,994 Fox
6 Wreck-It Ralph 6,948,550 16,572,669 -58.1 3,087 5 2,251 158,184,813 Disney
7 Killing Them Softly 6,812,900 2,424 1 2,811 6,812,900 Weinstein Co.
8 Red Dawn 6,500,245 14,276,668 -54.5 2,781 2 2,337 31,272,953 FilmDistrict
9 Flight 4,479,067 8,451,144 -47.0 2,603 5 1,721 81,465,903 Paramount
10 The Collection 3,104,269 1,403 1 2,213 3,104,269 LD
11 Silver Linings Playbook 3,090,131 4,383,669 -29.5 371 3 8,329 10,740,112 Weinstein Co.
12 Anna Karenina 2,245,570 896,258 150.5 384 3 5,848 4,106,921 Focus
13 Argo 2,010,349 3,865,158 -48.0 1,043 8 1,927 100,990,766 Warner Bros.
14 Talaash 1,638,706 172 1 9,527 1,638,706 Reliance Ent.
15 Taken 2 467,975 950,043 -50.7 496 9 943 137,163,554 Fox
16 Hitchcock 408,692 287,715 42.0 50 2 8,174 787,574 Fox Searchlight
17 Pitch Perfect 387,070 715,865 -45.9 403 10 960 63,099,243 Universal
18 The Sessions 333,315 724,025 -54.0 226 7 1,475 4,582,181 Fox Searchlight
19 Cloud Atlas 243,338 422,095 -42.3 194 6 1,254 26,181,455 Warner Bros.
20 Here Comes the Boom 224,797 507,814 -55.7 334 8 673 42,352,250 Sony
Top 5 $ 72,889,657 $ 151,045,813 -51.7
Top 10 100,734,688 198,595,121 -49.3
Top 20 111,784,631 204,438,732 -45.3
Top 20 vs. 2011 111,784,631 77,412,203 44.4

Last Updated: December 3, 2012 at 5:00PM ET

Watch Gitesh Pandya's weekly box office preview on CNN International airing live each Thursday at 6:40pm ET.