Leave it to a disaster flick to boost overall box office revenues. Yes, 2012 opened easily in the top spot this weekend, but making $65 million domestically and record-breaking $225 worldwide is just icing on the cake.
Here is the top five at the box office this weekend:
1. NEW! 2012 (Sony) – $65 mil; 3,404 theaters; $19,095 PT
2. A Christmas Carol (Buena Vista) – $22.3 mil; 3,683 theaters; $6,062 PT; $63.2 mil cume
3. The Men Who Stare at Goats (Overture) – $6.2 mil; 2,453 theaters; $2,528 PT; $23.3 mil cume
4. Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire (Lionsgate) – $6 mil; 174 theaters; $35,000 PT; $8.9 mil cume
5. Michael Jackson’s This Is It (Sony) – $5.1 mil; 3,037 theaters; $1,679 PT; $68.2 mil cume
Looks like the other success story this weekend was Precious – a dark, urban indie about an abused young woman and her chance to break out of her circumstances. The young lead, Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe, and the movie are gaining some serious Oscar cred, and it seems like word-of-mouth is spreading rapidly. Need to see this movie, to further my Oscar watching education.
On this coming weekend, it’s another no-brainer: The Twilight Saga: New Moon should sweep the competition under the rug and reap all kinds of cash. I wonder how much it’ll make, probably at LEAST 2012‘s $65 million, but most likely more. Anyone want to make a guess? But for those of you who want something else besides a vampire-werewolf-girl romance triangle, there’s two other openers, including the animated Planet 51, which looks cute and fun, and The Blind Side, starring Sandra Bullock as a no-nonsense Memphis housewife who takes in a African-American teenager and turns his life around. Oh, who am I kidding? I’m taking my 10-year-old daughter to see New Moon. Here’s the latest trailer: