Officially, the Christmas movie season starts at Thanksgiving and runs through December 31, but usually Hollywood starts releasing some of their best end-of-year product a few weeks sooner to get the financial jump in this peak moviegoing period. This weekend’s results are a prime example.
The animated movie about a cartoon/game villain who wants to become a hero instead of a bad guy, “Wreck-It Ralph,” was a solid number one at the box office taking in $47 million. The film has been released in both 2D and 3D versions and features an all-star vocal cast lead by Oscar-winning actor John C. Reilly.
The new film starring Denzel Washington playing an airline pilot who is an alcoholic, “Flight,” came in second with a healthy total of $23.5 million.
The talented actor and director Ben Affleck’s film, “Argo,” the true story of a most improbable hostage rescue, came in third place with $9.5 million giving it a total of $75.2 million for four weeks in release. In fourth place this weekend with $7.6 million was the new martial arts film, ‘The Man With the Iron Fists.” “Taken 2″ with Liam Neesen was fifth with $5.5 million giving it a grand total of $125.5 million in the five weeks since it opened.
The new film from Steven Spielberg, “Lincoln,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis, opens next weekend.
The latest James Bond film, “Skyfall,” starring Daniel Craig, also opens next weekend. It it setting box office records in Europe, where it opened a week ago For more on the entire weekend box office, click on the link below.
http://www.boxoffice.com/statistics/bo_numbers/early_estimate/2012-11-03
