OPENINGS: KILLING THEM SOFTLY (Weinstein) is estimating a pathetic $7M weekend, just about the worst of Brad Pitt’s starring career, and even that may be pushing it, since the studio is claiming a relatively soft Sunday drop. The same is true of the even more dismal THE COLLECTION (LD), which for reasons best known to its distributor is estimating the best Sunday hold in the Top 10 despite no evidence of good word of mouth whatsoever, and it isn’t even to get to a round number–the weekend projection is $3.4M.
HOLDOVERS: SKYFALL (Sony/MGM) actually outgrossed THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 2 (Summit/Lionsgate) on Saturday and Sunday, but Breaking Dawn 2 had a strong enough Friday to hold the weekend with $17.4M. After 17 days in theaters, that puts Breaking Dawn 2 less than $1M behind New Moon at the same point in its release as the highest grossing title of the franchise. Skyfall, for its part, had $17M over the weekend, and is beyond being compared to other Bonds, having outreached them so remarkably. With another $34M overseas, it’s at $869M worldwide and could get to $950M+ before it’s done. LINCOLN (Disney/DreamWorks/20th) had another strong $13.5M weekend, on its way to $100M in the US. ARGO (Warners) hit its $100M milestone.
There was no turnaround for last weekend’s openings. RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DreamWorks Animation/Paramount) had a decent hold, falling only 43% from last weekend, but that still gave it only $13.5M and little chance of getting much past $75-80M when it’s done. LIFE OF PI (20th) was down 47% for a $12M weekend and similar prospects. RED DAWN (FilmDistrict), not surprisingly, was the hardest hit, down 54% for a $6.5M weekend and headed for $40-50M in total.
LIMITED RELEASE: SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (Weinstein) has been apt to overestimate its Sundays, and this could be another instance, with a claimed 25% drop that’s 2d only to The Collection in Sunday holds. For now, it has an excellent 24% weekend decline and a $9K per-theatre average at 371 (it’s the latter number that the studio may have wanted to preserve). ANNA KARENINA (Focus/Universal) expanded to 384 theatres with a fair $5800 average. HITCHCOCK (Fox Searchlight) widened to 50 theatres, and at that number of venues, its $8K average isn’t very strong. THE SESSIONS (Fox Searchlight) dropped half its theatres as it waits to see if critics awards are in its future. RUST AND BONE (Sony Classics), still in only 2 NY theatres, had a superb hold, dropping only 5% with a $13K average.
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