RECORD-BREAKER THANKSGIVING $278M: ‘New Moon’ $42.5M Weekend/$66M Holiday; ‘Blind Side’ $40.1M/$57.5M

COMMENTS (48)

• Thank you Nikki for pointing out this game changer.

  Comment by FanGirlsRock — Monday November 30, 2009 @ 10:21am PST  Reply to this post

• The one thing I have noticed this year is that if you show anything with football you will do a decent number. From TV,radio,web and now the big screen it is true what they say: Football is King

  Comment by Mike Thompson — Monday November 30, 2009 @ 12:29pm PST  Reply to this post

• Wow. What an amazing weekend at the boxoffice. First up:

  1. NEW MOON – 70% drop is BIG, espically during a holiday weekend, however, it was clear that this thing would not hold up at all this weekend and I can envision another drop NEXT weekend too (not 70%, but above 50%) before this thing starts leveling out. But I do not see this in many theaters by XMAS break to make a dent in the box office. However, it still did fantastic and will hit $300M, albeit barely. Summit can now greenlight and mismarket 100 more movies now.

  2. BLIND SIDE – I was jaw-dropped last weekend how it did and am even more floored today. Sandy is a champ and this is the defintion of a four quadrant movie. It has charm and appeal and is GOOD too! Not great, but worth seeing in theaters. Sure, some movies get boosts over Thanksgiving weekend, but they are usually Thanksgiving themed and are out for a few weeks and are in the mid-teens. Not the high 30s! I have no doubt in my mind this thing will have legs and end up past $200M by XMAS and will still be in over 2000 theaters by then, unlike Twilight which will hold a 1000 if lucky. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if the drop is closer to 50% next weekend before much lighter ones due to the big rush to see it this weekend.

  3. 2012 – Good hold, espically with a bit of competition from Ninja Assasin, and it looks back on track to crack $175, but $200M seems up in the air still for me. I don’t see this sustaining enough theaters to last through XMAS to get high figures. However, it does have two more weeks without much competition until AVATAR arrives which I see stealing most of this films theaters. Worldwide is still looking good and Sony should be in the green. However, how does Roland get 25% US box office?!?! He’s a rich man. I don’t know why Fox passed on this one by him.

  4. Old Dogs – At least more Americans grew a brain and realized this will suck. Thank god this didnt do Wild Hogs numbers. It is not a flop, but a definite dissapointment. This should have cracked at least $30M. I see no legs on this thing and might even drop like a rock next weekend, or atleast when PRINCESS AND THE FROG released. $60M total maybe if lucky???

  5. A XMAS Carol – Good increase. This is playing identical to POLAR EXPRESS. However, I see this one falling short. 3D and IMAX 3D is propelling this film and Avatar will overtake all of those screens so by XMAS weekend, it WILL hurt its bottomline. Next week it will need a good hold becasue the week after is Princess and the Frog and that is competition too.

  6. NINJA ASSASSIN – I think this did well for itself, even with really bad reviews. Played a lot like HITMAN with nearly identical grosses. However, this had steeper drops which is not a good sign since Hitman dropped quick and ended up with $39M. Not a good sign. But as a side note, what an awesome/bad/repetitive title!

  7. PLANET 51 – Held good in the face of competition and I think it would have had a light fall regardless of the holiday. Next week it should have a light fall too, but I think it will crumble under PRINCESS AND THE FROG, another kiddy animated movie.

  8. PRECIOUS – It is amazing how this still has an average about $10K, but this weekend was a blow to the momentum. I don’t know why Lionsgate didn’t capuitalize this weekend and add a lot of theaters. Stupid move. Next week is the last week until all the Oscar movies come out so Lionsgate needs to get a move on it. Still, the gross now is pretty amazing. I just wish they played it different, but then again, I’m not a marketing person so they might know something I don’t.

  9. FANTASTIC MR. FOX – I guess you can say it did as expected and held OK with intense competition. However, I don’t see this thing doing much more than $30M. It will have slight drops, but it doesn’t seem like the film that will connect mainstream even though it was very cute.

  10. THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS – Back to back Clooney movies. Did as expected. Not much to say here. Cracked $30M. There’s an accomplishment.

  11. THE ROAD – While I think this will wind up as #10 when the actuals come in, TWC just needs to close up shop already. The $13K average is amazing for a film with no marketing, but should have been higher. Similarily last year Milk did $40K PTA and Slumdog did $27K I believe. I don’t see any wide expansions unless this garners some awards. I see TWC expanding this just like THE READER. THE READER never reached above 500 and remained in 200 theaters until January when it reached 1000. I see a similair gameplay here too. TWC should have released this last year when the iron was hot and I could see this making a lot of $$$$. Now it seems dim. It was a good movie, but never strong enough for a nom.

  *On a side note, BOONDOCK SAINTS 2 came out of leftfield and came very close to making it into the top 10. I thought it was only in 2 theaters and left already. Impressive for no ads.

  Comment by Ryan — Monday November 30, 2009 @ 12:30pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Yeo, I was right. THE ROAD came on top of MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS.

    Comment by Ryan — Monday November 30, 2009 @ 5:07pm PST  Reply to this post