Weekend Wrap-up: Box Office was Left Starving
December 5, 2011
Well that was depressing. No one was expecting a huge boom at the box office this weekend, but the overall results were even weaker than expected. In fact, at just $81 million it was the worst weekend of the entire year. Needless to say, the box office was down on a week-to-week basis plummeting 51%. Year-over-year there were also declines, albeit by a softer margin of 6%. Year-to-date, 2011 has pulled in $9.47 billion and it is now 4% behind last year's pace. There's almost no chance to close the gap in just four weeks and the only hope we have is to build momentum over the next four weeks, so that 2012 doesn't continue the year-over-year declines we've been suffering through for most of 2011.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 remained in top spot for the third weekend in a row, despite falling just over 60% to just $16.54 million. So far the film has pulled in $246.93 million and it is on pace for $275 million or more, but it won't match the previous two Twilight films.
The Muppets fell even more down 62% to just $11.08 million over the weekend for a total of $56.36 million after two. Given its reviews and its target audience, this is an absolute shock. Unless it can hang around till the new year, getting to $100 million is will be nearly impossible. On the other hand, it could do quite well on the home market with family and adult fans alike, because this decline screams Fanboy Effect.
Hugo had the best week-to-week hold in the top ten down just 33.5%. This helped it rise to third place with $7.56 million over the weekend for a total of $25.12 million after two. Unless the film starts picking up major award nominations, it won't have the legs to stick around for too much longer. Fortunately, it does have amazing reviews and there is a chance it will start picking up major award nominations.
Arthur Christmas remained in fourth place with $7.40 million over the weekend for a total of $25.34 million after twelve days of release. Its per theater average is getting really soft and the competition will start picking up in a couple weeks. It should be in enough theaters to still get a minor boost from Christmas, but it will likely be too little, too late by then.
Happy Feet 2 fell to fifth place with just $5.92 million over the weekend. Its running tally is just $51.70 million, which is well below expectations and this coming weekend it will likely see is theater count start to fall.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Hugo, Happy Feet Two, Arthur Christmas, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, The Muppets