While New Moon wanes:
1. The Blind Side: $20 million (3rd week; drops 50%)
2. The Twilight Saga: New Moon: $15.4 million (3rd week; drops 64%)
3. Brothers: $9.5 million (NEW)
4. A Christmas Carol: $7.8 million
5. Old Dogs: $6.9 million (2nd week; drops 59%)
actual numbers, not estimates
It was the biggest post-Thanksgiving weekend ever, according to Box Office Mojo — in ticket sales, not in attendance — and with its continued amazing performance, The Blind Side will, in the next few weeks, become the biggest-grossing sports movie ever. (Its cumulative take is now almost $130 million.) People likes ’em some pabulum.
New Moon is dropping fast, but it has already passed $255 million in North America alone, and will this week surpass Star Trek ($258 million) as the fifth money-making-est movie of the year. It will likely pass The Hangover ($277 million) at No. 4, but probably not Up ($293 million) at No. 3.
Other new openers didn’t fare so well. Armored clocked in at No. 7 with $6.5 million, and Everybody’s Fine was down at No. 10, with $3.9 million. And Transylmania? Yikes. It had the fourth worst per-screen average ever for a wide release — $262 — and the worst opening ever for a movie playing at more than 1,000 venues: $263,941.
Up in the Air, on the other hand, enjoyed one of the best per-screen openings ever: $78,763. Whether it can hold as well when it goes wide on Christmas Day remains to be seen.
[numbers via Box Office Mojo]
