By Amy Kaufman, Los Angeles Times –
LOS ANGELES — There were three fresh offerings at the box office over the Thanksgiving holiday, but moviegoers opted for leftovers instead.
For the second consecutive weekend, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2” claimed the No. 1 position. After debuting with a mammoth $141.1 million, the fifth and final installment in the vampire franchise took in an additional $64 million from Wednesday to Sunday, according to an estimate from distributor Summit Entertainment.
The film, starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, has now grossed $227 million domestically, slightly ahead of the $220.8 million that “Breaking Dawn — Part 1” made during the same time frame last November.
Other holdovers also fared well over the five-day holiday. “Skyfall,” starring Daniel Craig as James Bond, was the runner-up with $51 million, raising its overall North American total to $221.7 million. “Lincoln,” in which the 16th U.S. president is played by Daniel Day-Lewis, came in third with $34.1 million and has now sold $62.2 million worth of tickets.
As a result of the brisk business, it was the biggest Thanksgiving at the box office ever — not adjusting for inflation. Ticket sales between Wednesday and Sunday totaled $290 million, far exceeding the previous Thanksgiving record of $273 million in 2009, according to Hollywood.com.
The weekend’s newcomers had more trouble attracting crowds. Of the three movies that hit theaters Wednesday, the animated 3-D family film “Rise of the Guardians” fared best. However, the DreamWorks Animation picture’s weak $32.6 million, five-day take is the worst opening for the studio since its 2006 bomb “Flushed Away.”
“Life of Pi,” Ang Lee’s well-reviewed 3-D adaptation of Yann Martel’s best-selling 2001 book, had a decent debut of $30.2 million. Though it handily beat industry predictions that it would gross only $20 million during its first five days, the big-budget production will need to benefit from exceptionally strong word of mouth in the next few weeks to become a financial winner for 20th Century Fox.
As for the remake of 1984’s Cold War action flick “Red Dawn,” the movie launched with only $22 million. However, the film starring Chris Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson is in better shape than “Guardians” or “Pi,” since it was acquired by distributor FilmDistrict for a minimal cost.
Of the three new movies, audiences seemed to like “Guardians” the best. Those who saw it — 57 percent of whom were female — assigned it an average grade of A, according to market research firm CinemaScore. The movie is about a group of folk heroes, including the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus, who band together to protect children from an evil foe.
After its disappointing opening weekend, “Guardians” could end up being one of the biggest misses ever for Jeffrey Katzenberg’s company. The animation studio, which has found massive global success in comedic franchises such as “Shrek” and “Kung Fu Panda,” has had only a handful of films underperform at the box office. Two of those, “Flushed Away” and 2005’s “Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” were co-productions with United-Kingdom-based Aardman Animations, whose films have often had trouble translating with American audiences.
Anne Globe, head of worldwide marketing for DreamWorks Animation, would not address any of the film’s possible shortcomings Sunday. She remained optimistic about the movie, saying she thought its “terrific theme of belief and great holiday message for families are ideas that will build as the holidays play out.”
Meanwhile, “Life of Pi” earned better reviews than the weekend’s other debuts, and audiences assigned it an average A-minus grade. That’s good news for Fox, which is banking on positive buzz to turn the $120 million production into a hit.
“We’re so far ahead of where we had hoped to be,” said Chris Aronson, Fox’s president of domestic distribution. “There are certain films that come along where you don’t worry as much about the bottom line, and this is one of those movies because we are so proud of it.”
Executives at Fox know that the film, about a young boy stranded in the ocean with four wild animals, faces a number of challenges. Not only does it star an unknown Indian actor, but it is not based on the kind of popular brand that typically warrants such a big budget. Roughly 70 percent of those who saw it on opening weekend — 60 percent of whom were older than 25 — said they attended the film because of its subject matter, indicating many may have been familiar with Martel’s book.
The movie could also make up ground overseas, where it grossed $17.5 million from just four countries this weekend. It performed best in China, though it also took the No. 1 spot in Hong Kong, Taiwan and India.
After years of challenges, “Red Dawn” finally got a bit of a break. The movie, shot in 2009, saw its release date delayed numerous times when financial backer MGM entered bankruptcy. Though the film cost MGM about $65 million to make, FilmDistrict acquired its distribution rights last year for a nominal fee, meaning its opening is solid for the independent distributor.
The movie about young fighters battling a foreign enemy appealed to a mostly male audience. About 62 percent of the crowd this weekend were men; moviegoers gave the film an average grade of B.
The movie was marketed aggressively to military communities, an effort that seemed to pay off as it performed well in cities such as El Paso, Texas; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Wichita, Kan.
The film also features Hemsworth, who had the title role in “Thor,” and “The Hunger Games” star Hutcherson, who have both become bigger audience draws since “Red Dawn” was shot.
“The cast got better with age,” said Jim Orr, FilmDistrict’s president of distribution. “I don’t know if the movie would have done this well had it been released a few years ago.”
