>Based on Friday and Saturday box office (and estimated Sunday numbers), the box office slump continues. Only $70 million in volume for the top 12 films, down from the $82-87 million range the last three years for the comparable weekend. The #1 movie, New Year’s Eve, collected less than $14 million in its opening weekend, and the other opener, The Sitter, was the only other film to hit $10 million. Neither film will be a factor in coming weeks, as their estimated domestic totals are in the $25-31 million range.
The third weekend movies are now headed for: The Muppets ($81 million), Hugo ($50 million), Arthur Christmas ($49 million) and The Descendants ($35 million).
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 has locked in at $270 million — also see complete Twilight film track below), while Happy Feet Two is closing in on $67 million.
December 9-11, 2011 Wknd vs Showbuzz
(millions) Studio Last Domestic
Proj. Wknd Final*
New Year’s Eve (WB/NL) $13.7 $ 31
The Sitter (Fox) $10.0 $ 25
Twilight Breaking Dawn 1 (Sum) $ 7.9 -52% $270
The Muppets (Dis) $ 7.1 -36% $ 81-
Arthur Christmas (Sony) $ 6.6 -11% $ 49
Hugo (Par) $ 6.1 -19% $ 50
The Descendants (Fox) $ 4.8 + 1% $ 35
Happy Feet Two (WB) $ 3.7 -37% $ 67
Jack and Jill (Sony) $ 3.2 -40% $ 74
Immortals (Rel) $ 2.4 -45% $ 84
Tower Heist (Uni) $ 2.4 -39% $ 83
Puss in Boots (DW/Par) $ 1.6 -46% $144
Note: The table above summarizes the weekend as of Sunday. The first column (on which the table is sorted) displays the “studio projection” for each film, based on the Friday and Saturday actual numbers (and a studio-supplied estimate of Sunday). The second column is the percent decline from the prior weekend. The final column is a preliminary estimate of the ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Total Gross for the film’s complete run in North America. A “++” indicates the Domestic number has been upgraded; a “–” indicates a downgrade.
Twilight Saga Film Track Opening Domestic Overseas
Weekend Total Total
Twilight 11.21.2008 $ 69.6 $192.8 $199.8
Twilight New Moon 11.20.2009 $142.8 $296.6 $413.2
Twilight Eclipse 6.30.2010 $ 64.8 $300.5 $397.9
Total Box Office Volume
The Top 12 Films this weekend are looking like a soft $70 million total Friday-Sunday, down 17% from the same calendar weekend last year. Only the weekend of September 9-11 this year was lower ($65 million).
Top 12 Films: Weekend #49
2011 $ 70 New Year’s Eve $13.7, The Sitter $10
2010 $ 84 Chronicles of Narnia Voyage Dawn $24, Tourist $16.5
2009 $ 87 Princess and the Frog $24, Invictus $8.6
Next Weekend
International numbers are available here, and later today we will have official numbers for the Friday-Sunday domestic grosses.
About the Author
