If estimates hold, Ocean’s Twelve‘s $40.9M opening will be fourth highest December opener of all time. Only the three Lord of the Ring films have better debuts. Return of the King holds the record with $72.6M, The Two Towers is second with $62M, and The Fellowship of the Ring is third with $47.2M. Ocean’s Twelve’s $40.9M opening is also better than its predecessor‘s $38M debut three years ago.
Blade: Trinity, the third film in the Blade trilogy, grossed an estimated $16.1M over the weekend for second place. That’s on par with the original Blade‘s $17M opening, but far from Blade 2‘s $32M. Since opening on Wednesday, Blade: Trinity has grossed $24.5M total.
The splashy debut of Ocean’s Twelve and the strong showing for Blade: Trinity gave this weekend a 28% increase in business from the same weekend last year when Something’s Gotta Give took the top spot with $16M. The top 12 films this weekend grossed an estimated $102.8M – compared to $80.3M the same weekend last year. The top 12 films this weekend also grossed 30% more than last weekend’s.
The Polar Express continues to hold up well as Christmas approaches. Of the top 12 films this weekend, it experienced the smallest dropoff from the previous weekend – only 9%. It grossed an estimated $9.8M for a total of $110M in five weeks of release. It ranked 4th this weekend, behind National Treasure‘s estimated $10M.
On the other end of the spectrum, Alexander continues its precipitous decline this weekend with only $1.4M, a 70% drop from last weekend. That’s the biggest dropoff in the top 12. In three weeks of release, this $160M production has only managed to gross a measly $32.5M. It ranked 10th this weekend.
