Moviegoers said give us the apocalypse now as Sony's end-of-the-world epic "2012" topped the weekend boxoffice with a heaping $65 million in opening domestic coin.
Directed by Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day"), the effects-filled actioner cost $200 million to produce. But with a $225 million worldwide haul from simultaneous openings in 105 foreign territories, the more than 2 1/2-hour tentpole delivered a planetary payout on that investment at the high end of pre-release projections.
Disney's 3D animated feature "A Christmas Carol" – another pricey event pic with a reported $180 million budget -- grabbed second place as the family title slid a measly 26% from week-earlier opening grosses to $22.3 million on the frame and $63.3 million in cumulative boxoffice. Some $3.1 million from high-grossing Imax 3D screens helped shape the leggy performance.
The session's only other wide opener -- Focus Features' British rock comedy "Pirate Radio" -- unspooled outside the top 10 with $2.9 million from 882 playdates.
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" continued to impress as Lionsgate added 156 theaters for a total of 174 in the gritty drama's second outing and grossed $6.1 million, or a whopping $35,000 per venue. That was good for fourth place on the frame and pushed cume for the Lee Daniels-helmed pic to $8.9 million cume ahead of a scheduled expansion to about 600 locations on Friday.
Overture Films' George Clooney starrer "The Men Who Stare at Goats" dropped 51% in its sophomore session to $6.2 million in third place with a $23.3 million cume, while Universal's horror thriller "The Fourth Kind" slid 61% to $4.7 million in sixth place and a 10-day cume of $20.6 million. Warner Bros.' thriller "The Box" dropped 58% in its second weekend to $3.2 million in 10th place, with a $13.2 million cume.
Collectively, the weekend's top 10 grossers rung up $125 million, or 7% less than top performers in the same frame last year, according to Nielsen EDI.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
