The USA Weekend Top 10 Box Office Summery (Week of Dec 21-23, 2012).
1. The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey
2. Jack Reacher
3. This is 40
4. Rise of the Guardians
5. Lincoln
6. The Guilt Trip
7. Monsters Inc.
8. Skyfall
9. Life of Pi
10. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
Box Office Report:'The Hobbit' holds number one spot, 'Jack Reacher' and 'This is 40' disappoint.
Despite a record-breaking opening,
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey experienced a significant 57% drop off in its second week, bringing in an estimated $36.7 million, with an $8,952 per screen average. This brings
The Hobbit’s ten-day gross to $149.9 million, tracking about 8% behind
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’s ten-day gross.
Paramount’s
Jack Reacher (Cinema Score: A-) opened this past weekend in second place with a modest $15.6 million. Based on the popular Lee Child-created character, the Tom Cruise action flick has been somewhat of a box office wild card and will have to struggle to maintain momentum to make up the costs for the $60 million production.
The weekend prior to the Christmas holiday isn’t usually the strongest at the box office, but last year Cruise’s
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol opened wide on December 21 at $29.6 million. As many have already mentioned,
Jack Reacher fans are perhaps put off by the casting, since the character is supposed to be physically imposing at 6’5″.
Judd Apatow’s comedy
This is 40 (Cinema Score: B-) also opened this weekend at $12 million to take third place. Though not abysmal, it doesn’t hold a candle to the $22.7 million, number one opening for
Funny People,
Apatow’s last directorial effort. But of course,
Funny People starred Adam Sandler, which likely contributed to the strong opening.
A sort of-sequel to
Knocked Up (which opened at $30.7 million),
This is 40 stars Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, and Albert Brooks, and boasts an impressively large cast including John Lithgow, Jason Segel, Chris O’Dowd, Megan Fox, Michael Ian Black, and Lena Dunham. But the 134-minute run time and Paul Rudd’s
relatively low box office draw may have contributed to the low first weekend earnings.