‘Christmases’ Wins Thanksgiving

Published by Jeff Leins on: November 30th, 2008

Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon’s Four Christmases won the Thanksgiving holiday weekend with an estimated $31.7 million for the 3-Day.  The romantic comedy out-performed expectations, already making $46.7 for its first five days.

The holiday debut easily beat Vince Vaughn’s other Christmas movie, Fred Claus, which opened to $18 million about 11 months ago.  As for the Oscar-winning Witherspoon, it was her second largest opening since 2002’s Sweet Home Alabama.

Disney’s animated movie Bolt had its revenge after Twilight smashed it last weekend.  The PG kid flick actually made more money this weekend than last, moving up to second place with $26.6 million and narrowly edging Twilight.  It was largely due to it playing in an extra 230 theaters across the country.

Meanwhile, teen vampire sensation Twilight didn’t exactly have the repeat business it was looking for, falling 62% from last weekend.  It earned $26.4 million over the three day weekend.  The total so far is $119.7 million after crossing the $100 mil blockbuster mark in just 8 days.

Australia finished just inside the top five with an estimated $14.8 million.  Fox is insisting the $150 budget price tag on the project was tempered by Australian tax breaks, but rival studios are pointing at mediocre reviews (52% on Rotten Tomatoes) and under-performing box office (according to their predictions) to possibly remove it from the Oscar running.

The other wide opener was the R-rated action movie Transporter 3 with just $12.3 million.  The outrageous Jason Statham franchise made about $4 mil less than the opening of the second driving movie.  People seem to be tiring of flipping luxury cars dismantling bombs in mid-air.  Go figure.  The first two were distributed by Fox and this was picked up by Lionsgate.

Sneaking into 10th in just 36 theaters across the country was Sean Penn’s latest Oscar grab, Milk, with an estimated $1.4 million.  The per theater average was $38k, knocking last year’s arthouse sensation (Slumdog Millionaire) into 11th.  Milk goes wide this weekend.

Friday-Sunday numbers:
1. Four Christmases $31.7 million
2. Bolt $26.6 million
3. Twilight $26.4 million
4. Quantum of Solace $19.5 million
5. Australia $14.8 million
6. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa $14.5 million
7. Transporter 3 $12.3 million
8. Role Models $5.3 million
9. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas $1.7 million
10. Milk $1.4 million