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December 29, 2012
 

EARLY FRIDAY BOXOFFICE: Increases, But Not For All

 

Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, the boxoffice generally showed an uptick from Thursday, which was at it should be for the last Friday of the year.  (In 2007, the last time Christmas fell on a Tuesday, Friday was generally up 10-25% from the day before.)  Some of the biggest titles, though, remained flat.

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY (Warners/MGM) was still in 1st place despite being virtually even with Thursday at $10M.  Hobbit should be at about $240M by New Year’s Day, with a chance to reach $300M before it’s done.

DJANGO UNCHAINED (Weinstein/Sony) is reporting a very nice 12% hike to $9.3M, which at the moment ties it for 2d place on the day.  Django should be close to $70M by the end of the holidays, with a fair shot of beating Inglourious Basterds and its $120.5M to become Quentin Tarantino’s biggest hit.

There doesn’t seem to have been any similar bump for LES MISERABLES (Universal), just about even with Thursday (and with Django) at $9.3M.  Thanks to its big opening day, it should reach $75M by Tuesday, and is seemingly headed for around a $135-150M total, perhaps passing Mamma Mia‘s $144M to become the #3 musical of all time.

PARENTAL GUIDANCE (20th), god help us, also had a very robust Friday, up a reported 20% to $5M, putting it on track for $40M by New Year’s and conceivably $70M in all.  That would put it close to JACK REACHER (Paramount), which rose about 30% to $4.5M on Friday, with about $55M due by Tuesday and $80M in all.  THIS IS FORTY (Universal) had a 20% bump to $3.8M, with around $45M expected by Tuesday and $70M total (better than Funny People‘s $51.9M, although still considerably below Judd Apatow’s other movies).  THE GUILT TRIP (Paramount) also rose about 20%, although with a holiday boxoffice of around $25M and about $35M expected in all, it’s still a flop.

LINCOLN (Disney/DreamWorks/20th) keeps rolling along, up about 10% to $2.3M on Friday as it marches toward $150M.  And MONSTERS INC 3D (Disney/Pixar), along with RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DreamWorks Animation/Paramount) were both up (20% and 10% respectively, to $2.3M and $1.8M).  Rise should have $95M by Tuesday, and looks like it will reach its modified goal of $100M.

 

 



About the Author

Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."