CinemaNerdz

Box Office Weekend: Sky’s the Limit for Skyfall as Bond Gets Big Numbers

Seth Paul
Box Office

It has been four years since James Bond last appeared in Quantum of Solace, and while it could not be said the last entry was any less than a box-office smash ($586 million worldwide) and got generally good reviews, MGM’s bankruptcy put the future of the franchise on hold for quite some time. However, it appears it was worth the wait…amid a flurry of good reviews, Skyfall also made good at the box office, making an estimated $87.8 million over the weekend, with an additional estimated $2.2 million thanks to a Thursday opening on IMAX screens. But its domestic success is not just resonating here…the film has already earned $518.6 million worldwide, all but ensuring the MGM work stoppage was just a temporary setback. With no other debut cracking the top ten this weekend (Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln opened this weekend, but only in limited release), Skyfall almost single-handedly drove up box office business above last week’s returns, as repeat business declined.

Wreck-It Ralph held onto its numbers pretty well, dropping to an estimated $33.1 million for week two, although with a $165 million budget, it has a long ways to go for the well-received Disney venture to make up ground…especially with its overseas numbers looking more like Brave than would be expected. Flight and Argo also held onto their relative positions, the Denzel Washington thriller earning an estimated $15.1 million and the Ben Affleck-directed thriller an estimated $6.7 million. Both films have done strong business against their budgets, but leave it to Taken 2, which retained its fifth-place position with an estimated $4 million, to show off. Despite poor reviews, Liam Neeson’s revenge vehicle has taken (pun intended) the box office by storm, and is the second-highest earning film domestically still in the top ten (the highest is Hotel Transylvania, which clung onto the tenth spot with an estimated $2.4 million and $140.9 million in domestic totals).

The rest of the list contains a few surprising comeback kids and two major drops, though they all appear to be in a close tie for weekly take. Here Comes the Boom got a rescue from the bottom of the list to land at sixth, though with an estimated $2.6 million and a running total of $39.1 million, its performance remains decidedly average. Pitch Perfect also reappeared after disappearing from the list, landing in eighth with an estimated $2.5 million, though with a much better box office stance ($59 million) than Here Comes the Boom. Still, despite their placements, both films are head and shoulders above seventh-place finisher Cloud Atlas, which is destined for bomb status with an estimated $2.5 million and a major loss in revenue from last week. The Man with the Iron Fists does not appear to be facing much acclaim either, with a ninth-place finish, and estimates placing it just below $2.5 million. While it seems The Man with the Iron Fists might not even make back its scant $15 million budget before home video rentals, at least it has a scant budget to fall back upon…Cloud Atlas, with its reported $105 million budget, joins the ranks of big budget disappointments like Mars Needs Moms, and is unlikely to see a return on its costs anytime soon.

Weekend Box-Office (November 9th – November 11th)

  1. Skyfall…$87.8 million
  2. Wreck-It Ralph…$33.1 million
  3. Flight…$15.1 million
  4. Argo…$6.7 million
  5. Taken 2…$4 million
  6. Here Comes the Boom…$2.6 million
  7. Cloud Atlas…$2.5 million
  8. Pitch Perfect…$2.5 million
  9. The Man with the Iron Fists…$2.5 million
  10. Hotel Transylvania…$2.4 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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