Box office report for Nov. 28, 2011: "Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" holds top spot with "The Muppets" in second place
For the second straight week, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1″ maintained its supernatural hold on the domestic box office.
The fourth and penultimate film based on Stephenie Meyer’s paranormally popular books took in $42 million domestically over the three-day weekend and $62.3 million in the five-day Thanksgiving boom time from Wednesday to Sunday, according to the Associated Press.
It’s strong Thanksgiving showing raised the movie’s domestic total to $221.3 million, while the Summit Entertainment release added $71.5 million overseas to lift the international total to $268 million and the worldwide take to $489.3 million.
Debuting at No. 2 was the holiday comeback movie “The Muppets,” the first film for the pack of music-and-comedy-inclined puppets since 1999′s largely ignored “Muppets from Space.” The first Muppet movie under the Disney auspices took in $29.5 million for the three-day weekend and $42 million over the five-day holiday, according to the AP.
Three other family films rounded out the top-five: the Warner Bros. sequel “Happy Feet Two” at No. 3 with a three-day total of $13.4 million and $18.4 million for five days; Sony’s animated comedy “Arthur Christmas,” which debuted at No. 4 with $12.7 million for three days and $17 million for five days; and Paramount’s period adventure “Hugo,” which bowed at No. 5 with $11.4 million for three days and $15.4 million for five days.
Between “Breaking Dawn” and the blitz of family films, analysts thought Hollywood had a shot at record revenue over Thanksgiving, one of the year’s busiest weekends at movie theaters. But viewers did not come in anywhere close to record numbers, according to the AP.
“I was pretty surprised by this. I just thought this was the perfect combination of films in the marketplace,” Paul Dergarabedian, analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com, told the AP. “Maybe there was just too much out there.”
Domestic revenue totaled $234 million from Wednesday to Sunday, well below the $273 million record set two years ago, when “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” led the Thanksgiving weekend. Receipts also fell short of last Thanksgiving’s $264 million haul, when “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1″ finished on top.
Studio executives concede it’s growing harder to lure fans into theaters given all the portable games, devices and other electronics people have to fill up their entertainment time. A so-so Thanksgiving on a weekend with such a good variety of movies could be a sign that Hollywood simply has to live with diminished expectations, the AP reports.
“I don’t know that choice is ever a bad thing, and in terms of a weekend for families, this is one of the best,” Dave Hollis, head of distribution for Disney, told the AP. “The challenge is breaking through and being relevant and meaningful and fresh enough to take the more finicky customers and have them choose you.”
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