CinemaNerdz

Box Office Weekend: Skyfall Rises Back to the Top of a Tepid Weekend

Seth Paul
Box Office

With the wide release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey due next weekend and little new to talk about, box office returns are down significantly from the previous week, though James Bond is certainly not frowning. Skyfall returned to the number one spot for the weekend, having been displaced after its opening by The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 for three weeks. Though receipts are expectedly down (an estimated $11 million), the film has certainly been no slouch; while its domestic totals are an excellent $261.6 million, worldwide it is the third highest-grossing film of the year worldwide, meaning 2012 has been a good year to long-running franchises, comic book-based or no.

Breaking Dawn Part 2 had to settle for third this week with an estimated $9.2 million, beaten out by a rise in stature (if drop in overall revenue) of Rise of the Guardians, which, at an estimated $10.5 million, falls quite sort of its budget domestically, but has done some excellent numbers worldwide and has covered its costs with those ticket sales included. As for Breaking Dawn Part 2, no worries on that front; domestically, the film is the fourth highest earner of 2012, and sixth when it comes to top earners worldwide this year.

As for Abraham Lincoln, it would appear audiences are more in favor of more historical renditions than wild fiction; Lincoln earned an estimated $9.1 million, and thanks to an impressive showing over Thanksgiving, the film has taken in a solid $97.3 million in domestic net gains, about three times that of the box office of the more ridiculously themed (and amazingly, more expensive) Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Life of Pi has also shown signs of life, with an estimated $8.3 million giving a $60 million domestic total to the fantasy epic; like Rise of the Guardians, not much considering its budget, but worldwide earnings have helped it gain well over its $120 million production costs.

Sadly, the only new film to make the top ten, Playing for Keeps, debuted with an estimated $6 million and horrid reviews, leaving the film little chance of making up the $35 million it needs before the home video market. Below it, Wreck-It Ralph teeters on the verge of breaking even domestically (an estimated $4.9 million places it at $164.4 million on its $165 million budget), though it has overseas numbers to thank for its success; Red Dawn struggles relentlessly with an estimated $4.3 million and likely failure at the box office; Flight has smooth sailing with an estimated $3.1 million padding out its well-lined coffers; and Killing Them Softly’s brief flirt with success seems short-lived, as an estimated $2.7 million leaves it a few million shy of breaking even on its small $15 million investment.

Weekend Box-Office (December 7th – December 9th)

  1. Skyfall…$11 million
  2. Rise of the Guardians…$10.5 million
  3. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2…$9.2 million
  4. Lincoln…$9.1 million
  5. Life of Pi…$8.3 million
  6. Playing for Keeps…$6 million
  7. Wreck-It Ralph…$4.9 million
  8. Red Dawn…$4.3 million
  9. Flight…$3.1 million
  10. Killing Them Softly…$2.7 million

Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."
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