Christmas Weekend at the Box Office wasn’t very strong. With the big holiday on a Sunday, all of the family movies disappointed, but the more adult films didn’t do much better. “M:I4” won with $26.5M (the lowest open in the franchise – hurt by the IMAX opening). “Sherlock 2” dropped over 50% from the previous weekend.
“Alvin 3” surprised many by beating newcomers “The Adventures of Tintin” and “We Bought a Zoo” ($13.3M to $9.1M to $7.8M). “Tintin” made only $17M for the 5-day total. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” also underperformed ($13M Fri-Sun; $21M Wed-Sun). The bright side to this story is that “Arthur Christmas” stayed in the Top 10 for the Christmas weekend making $2.7M. It’s rare to have a Christmas movie stay on the list for the actual holiday weekend.
This is one of the lowest Christmas weekends of all time. Here are some stats for the same weekend over the past several years:
2011 – #1 Movie: “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” (PG-13) – $26.5M; Top 12 – $87.6M; 6 New Movies (In Wide Release) – 4 Counted in Original Estimates
2010 – “Little Fockers” (PG-13) – $30.8M; $132.2M; 3 New Movies
2009 – “Avatar” (PG-13) – $75.6M; $259.9M; 3 New Movies
2008 – “Marley and Me” (PG) – $36.4M; $179.6M; 5 New Movies
2007 – “National Treasure 2” (PG) – $44.8M; $152.1M; 5 New Movies
2006 – “Night at the Museum” (PG) – $30.4M; $109.3M; 4 New Movies
So far no family moviers are schedule to open Christmas Weekend 2012. Either that will change, or based on what happened this year, could stay the way it is. “The Muppets” was originally going to open on Christmas Day, but was thankfully moved to Thanksgiving. If it had stayed a Christmas day release it may have also struggled.