This weekend, the wizard sequel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 won a narrow victory and held onto the top spot at the North American box office over a busy Thanksgiving holiday frame with an estimated $50.3M in its second weekend of release. Tumbling an expected 60% from its debut, the Warner Bros. smash raised its ten-day domestic tally to an impressive $220.4M. Compared to the last installment to open on a November Friday – 2005’s Goblet of Fire – Hallows opened 22% better but after ten days the lead has been cut to just 10%. Goblet even grossed more on its second weekend when it took in $54.7M over the same turkey session for a 47% decline.
Hallows still has a shot at breaking the $300M mark domestically, though it’s not likely to go much past that. Overseas, the new Potter grossed an estimated $113.2M boosting the international total to $389.2M and the global haul to a stellar $610M with South Korea still to come in mid-December.
Disney showed some big muscles with its newest princess tale Tangled which debuted a hair behind in second with an estimated $49.1M and a potent $69M over the five-day span starting Wednesday. The PG-rated 3D animated film was always expected to have a strong showing in the number two spot but did much better than anticipated with a sizzling $13,628 average from 3,603 locations. 3D surcharges certainly helped. Tangled opened much better than the studio’s 2007 princess pic Enchanted which bowed to $34.4M and $49.1M in five days. Reviews were very positive and the road ahead does not have too much competition.
Moviegoers looking for a more guy-oriented 3D toon chose former number one Megamind which slipped 20% to an estimated $12.9M. Paramount has grossed $130.5M to date with its third DreamWorks Animation title of the year.
Sony’s musical Burlesque followed with a mild debut. The Christina Aguilera-Cher combo drew in an estimated $11.8M over the weekend and $17.2M across the five-day span. Playing in 3,037 sites, the PG-13 film averaged only $3,885 over the Friday-to-Sunday period and performed exactly like the studio’s 2005 turkey weekend musical Rent. That film bowed to $17.1M over the Wednesday-to-Sunday session. Reviews for Burlesque were terrible and the crowd was 69% female.
Enjoying the smallest dip of any film in the top ten was Fox’s runaway train flick Unstoppable which eased just 10% to an estimated $11.8M. After 17 days, the Denzel Washington film has taken in a solid $60.7M.
Coming in sixth was the Viagra comedy Love and Other Drugs which debuted to an estimated $9.9M over three days from 2,455 theaters. The Fox release averaged a so-so $4,012 and its five-day total was $14M. Starring Brokeback Mountain alums Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, the R-rated film played to adults and was met with lukewarm reviews.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson suffered one of the worst openings of his career with the action pic Faster which debuted in seventh place with an estimated $8.7M from 2,454 locations for a mild $3,549 average. The CBS Films release played to an adult male crowd and grossed $12.2M over its five-day holiday debut which was even with the three-day launch of the actor’s animated dud Planet 51 from last November. Faster cost $24M to produce with CBS kicking in half the amount plus domestic marketing costs. But unlike other films in the marketplace right now, the R-rated film actually saw daily increases from Wednesday thru Saturday so audiences do seem to be liking it.
The Warner Bros. comedy Due Date followed with an estimated $7.3M, off just 18%, for a $85M cume. Dropping 25% was the Russell Crowe pic The Next Three Days with an estimated $4.8M for Lionsgate upping the ten-day total to $14.6M. Morning Glory rounded out the top ten with an estimated $4M, down 23%, giving Paramount $26.5M to date.
Debuting with spectacular results in platform release was the Oscar hopeful The King’s Speech which bowed to an estimated $350,000 from a mere four theaters for a scorching $87,500 average. The Weinstein Co. release starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush earned strong reviews and expands to more cities in the weeks ahead.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $170.6M which was off just 1% from last year when The Twilight Saga: New Moon remained in the top spot with $42.9M; but up 12% from 2008 when Four Christmases debuted at number one with $31.1M.
Written by Gitesh Pandya of Box Office Guru
