The 2009 Thanksgiving weekend box office went through the roof as a mix of new and older films helped contribute to a record-setting weekend. The top ten films joined forces to haul in an impressive $172.5 million in sales over the Friday to Sunday span.Repeating its stance at the top of the box office, Summit Entertainment's "Twilight" sequel "The New Moon" pulled in $42.5 million. Despite falling a steep 70% from last weekend's opening, the ten-day take for the film is $230.7 million, with the $300 million mark its next milestone (which it should pass within the next two weeks). The next chapter in the series is due in June of 2010.
"New Moon" came very close to landing in second place this weekend. On Thanksgiving Day, the film stepped down a spot to make way for the Sandra Bullock sleeper hit "The Blind Side", which continued to stun Hollywood by hauling in $40.1 million this weekend to hit the $100 million mark on Sunday. While most films tend to drop in attendance in their second weekend of release, "Blind Side" increased its take by a big 18% from its already-impressive opening weekend. Word-of-mouth has definitely helped this inspirational sports drama, and I wouldn't be surprised if the film played right through the holiday season to land close to the $200 million mark while making an appearance next week at the top of the box office charts.
Third spot went to the Roland Emmerich disaster epic "2012" with $18 million in ticket sales. After three weeks of release, the mega-budgeted film has pulled in $140 million to date, which would be more impressive had the movie not cost so much to produce. Fortunately for Sony, the overseas grosses have been more impressive.
In fourth spot was the Disney comedy "Old Dogs" with a $16.9 million weekend take and an overall gross of $24.5 million since its Wednesday debut. Roundly trashed by critics, the film (which has been sitting on the shelf for a while) nonetheless did the trick for those looking for a brainless laugh to help work off the turkey and pumpkin pie. Fifth spot went to another Disney film, "A Christmas Carol", which pulled down $16 million for a $105 million cume. The film might stand a chance to pull in $145-150 million when all is said and done. Like "2012", the gross for "Carol" may have been more impressive had it not cost so much to make.
Sixth spot went to the action flick "Ninja Assassin" with a so-so gross of $13.1 million ($21 mil for its first five days). The animated "Planet 51" was next with $10 million and a $28 million to-date gross. Eighth went to the indie sensation "Precious" with $7 million and a to-date cume of $32.5 million. 20th Century Fox's "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" did moderate business in its first weekend of expansion with $7 million and a to-date gross of $10 million, while the Weinstein Company finally unveiled the long-delayed "The Road" to an impressive $1.53 million from only 111 venues.
Next Friday, the excellent "Up in the Air" begins its cinematic takeoff in limited release, while the Jim Sheridan-directed drama "Brothers", the Robert DeNiro-led remake of "Everybody's Fine" and the Sony actionier "Armored" make debuts in wide release. None of the above wide releases are expected to come close to making as much as either "New Moon" or "The Blind Side", so it looks like the American Box Office will dine on leftovers yet again.
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