By Chris Kavan - 12/31/12 at 12:26 AM CT
Strictly speaking, it was a third straight winning weekend for the first entry in the new Middle Earth saga, but considering the Christmas holiday, it was really a winning week for two big films attracting two very different audiences, and it should stay that way in the coming weeks as well.
1) THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
Holding steady, dropping just 11%, The Hobbit managed to hold off strong competition to take the top spot with $32.9 million. It seems the staying power of The Hobbit is greater than I would have imagined. It has grossed $222.7 million in 17 days - between Fellowship of the Rings ($189.3 million) and The Two Towers ($243.6 million) through the same period. Is a $300 million total still possible? If it can continue to hang strong it at least has a good chance of nearing that mark.
2) DJANGO UNCHAINED
Quentin Tarantino's ode to spaghetti westerns managed to pull ahead of Les Miserables for the weekend. Taking in $30.68 million for the weekend, it has made $64 million since opening on Christmas day. By comparison, Inglourious Basterds had $50.6 million through the same point. With good reviews and excellent audience scores (A-), this means it should be able to top Basterds $120.5 million to become Tarantino's highest-grossing film.
3) LES MISERABLES
Although the musical fell short of the weekend, it actually out grossed Django Unchained since opening on the 25th as well. With just over $28 million, the star-studded cast helped bring in $67.5 million since opening. It's opening of $18.1 million set the mark for best opening for a musical (thankfully beating High School Musical 3's $17 million) and the second-best Christmas day launch behind Sherlock Holmes ($24.6 million). The audience was mostly female (67%) and awarded it the coveted A+ score, while general audiences were just about as generous - giving it an A. It should also have little trouble topping $100 million - especially considering the awards buzz it has generated lately.
4) PARENTAL GUIDANCE
I found the concept behind this film a bit horrifying, but it seems this drew in the family audience. Taking in $14.8 million - with a total of $29.5 million since opening on Christmas as well - the Billy Crystal, Bette Midler comedy seems to have finally knocked Rise of the Guardians off its family perch. Monsters Inc. 3D also couldn't compete. Despite what I saw as painfully unfunny previews, audiences awarded this an A- as well.
5) JACK REACHER
The Tom Cruise action film dropped just over 10% in its second weekend out and took in $14 million, pushing its total to $44.6 million. It still trailing Valkyrie ($57.6 million) through the same point, though at least it looks like hitting its $60 million budget will happen - though $100 million is out of the question.
Outside the top 10: Lincoln was a big winner - although it dropped 327 theaters from its total, it managed to increase a whopping 35.9% from last weekend - it still dropped from 5th to 7th place, but its $7.5 million weekend helped it raise its total to $132 million and it should continue to do well as the awards keep coming in.
It was doubly good news for Skyfall. Taking in $4.6 million (11th place) - it officially passed The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 ($286.1 million) to become the 4th-highest grossing film of 2012 with $289.6 million. Not only that, but globally, Skyfall also passed the $1 billion mark worldwide.
The Silver Linings Playbook also got a bump - finally raising its theater count to 745 and helping it to a 130.7% increase. The $4.1 million (12th place) raised its total to $27.36 million - and a wider expansion is expected as awards season heats up.
Finally, way down in 16the place, my man Wreck-It Ralph added just over $2 million and crossed the $175 million mark - with a $175.65 million total.
Next week doesn't look to offer much in the form of competition as politically-themed Promised Land and Texas Chainsaw 3D shouldn't be much of a match for any of the top three films for sure, and maybe not even the top five.
