December 21, 2012 by Vinnie Leduc
One film ruled them all at the domestic box office last weekend, and it did so in record-setting fashion. Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first movie of a new prequel trilogy to his Oscar-winning blockbuster The Lord of the Rings trilogy, handily broke I Am Legend‘s record for highest December opening of all time. However, after adjusting for inflation and higher ticket prices for the franchise’s first venture into 3D and weird-as-hell HFR (high frame rate) formats, ticket sales for the fantasy adventure adaptation of the popular literary epic actually trailed those of the debuts of not only I Am Legend, but Jackson’s own The Return of the King and likely The Two Towers as well.
After reclaiming the top spot and denying the final Twilight movie a four-peat the previous weekend, Skyfall fell to fourth while Breaking Dawn – Part 2 dropped completely out of the top five for the first time in its theatrical run after securing a three-peat just a couple weekends ago. The 23rd James Bond film in the longest running franchise in cinematic history and the finale of the fantasy romance literary series, respectively, have been at each other’s throats for the past month, with the latter holding a slight edge in total gross.
After climbing to second place the previous weekend, DreamWorks Animation’s 3D CGI family flick, Rise of the Guardians, very barely held onto the silver spot ahead of Steven Spielberg’s biopic Lincoln, which has steadily risen to third and has crossed the $100 million mark. Oscar buzz should fuel its run throughout the rest of the year, but DreamWorks Animation can only hope the holiday season will do the same for its disappointing latest. Ang Lee’s 3D live-action adventure Life of Pirounded out the top five, which you can check out below via BOM:
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey — Weekend Gross: $84.6 million — Total Gross: $84.6 million (new)
- Rise of the Guardians — Weekend Gross: $7.1 million — Total Gross: $71.1 million (#2 last week)
- Lincoln — Weekend Gross: $7.0 million — Total Gross: $107.7 million (#4 last week)
- Skyfall — Weekend Gross: $6.6 million — Total Gross: $271.9 million (#1 last week)
- Life of Pi — Weekend Gross: $5.4 million — Total Gross: $69.6 million (#5 last week)
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