Weekend Wrap-Up: Box Office Falls as Moviegoers Wait for The Hobbit
December 10, 2012
Skyfall returned to the top of the box office chart, which is fitting, because it was the last film released that truly beat expectations at the box office. The only wide release this week, Playing For Keeps, barely remained above the Mendoza Line and failed to reach the top five. The overall box office fell 30% to just $80 million. Ugh. There are a couple of pieces of good news we should focus on. Firstly, $80 million is still 7% higher than this weekend last year. Secondly, it was enough to push 2012 over the $10 billion market. At the moment, the total box office for 2012 is $10.02 billion, which is 6% higher than 2011 had managed at the same point in the year. By this time next week, 2012 might be ahead of 2011's final figure of $10.28 billion.
Skyfall returned to first place on the box office chart earning $10.78 million over the weekend for a total of $261.40 million. This is close to $100 million more than the second biggest hit in the franchise and it should still be playing in theaters at the beginning of the new year.
Rise of the Guardians rose to second place, the best in its run so far. Over the weekend, it added $10.40 million to its running tally, which now sits at $61.77 million. If it can remain in wide release over Christmas, it might still get to $100 million.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 performed a little better than expected with $9.16 million over the weekend. So far it has made $268.69 million, which is roughly on par with expectations.
Lincoln remained in fourth place with $8.92 million giving it a total of $97.14 million. A few people thought it would claim top spot this weekend, but the studio can still feel good about its run and it will very quickly reach $100 million.
Life of Pi rounded out the top five with $8.33 million over the weekend for a total of $60.95 million after three weeks of release. It will need to rely on international numbers to break even.
Most people expected Playing for Keeps to do really poorly, and it lived down to expectations earning sixth place with just $5.75 million. It did avoid missing the Mendoza Line with an average of $2,027 while it did finally earn one positive review. Both of those are clearly damning it with faint praise.
Looking in on the sophomore class, Killing Them Softly fell to 10th place with $2.81 million over the weekend for a total of $11.83 million after two. Falling 59% is really steep given its reviews. The Collection actually held on better, down 52%; however, it also started weaker. This past weekend, it managed just $1.49 million for 13th place and currently has $5.46 million after two weeks of release.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Lincoln, Life of Pi, Rise of the Guardians, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2, Skyfall, Playing for Keeps, The Collection, Killing Them Softly, James Bond