Weekend Box Office: 'New Moon' & 'The Blind Side' top record-breaking Thanksgiving weekend!

New Moon (L) and The Blind Side (R) led the way during the most lucrative Thanksgiving weekend of all time.
Photos: Summit Entertainment, Warner Brothers

Female-oriented movies were the talk of the marketplace during the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend as the combined one-two punch of New Moon and The Blind Side lifted the overall box office to the highest grossing Thanksgiving weekend of all time.

After a mammoth $142.8 million opening last weekend, most box office prognosticators expected The Twilight Saga: New Moon to have a significant drop but losing a colossal 70% of its audience in its second weekend was more than anyone could have predicted especially since Thanksgiving is one of the year’s most lucrative movie-going weekends. Despite this massive collapse (proof that the film will have a hard time surviving through the busy holiday season), New Moon managed to remain the number one film in the country, pulling in an estimated $42.5 million in ticket sales. Don’t expect it to retain its crown next weekend though.

That title will undoubtedly go to The Blind Side. The Sandra Bullock-starrer about a southern woman who takes in a homeless teenager saw its grosses increase by 18% from last weekend, bringing in a powerful $40.1 million in estimated box office earnings and raising its overall box office tally to $100 million. The well-received film has been receiving sizzling word-of-mouth from audiences and should be able to capitalize on the strong buzz to make it the prime favorite for next weekend’s box office crown. If it does indeed become the number one film next weekend, it will certainly be on its way to become Sandra Bullock's highest grossing film, topping this summer's The Proposal. With both The Blind Side and The Proposal becoming $100 million hits, Sandra Bullock must certainly be a happy woman as she’s definitely having the most successful year of her strong career.

2012

Holding steady in third place was doomsday-thriller 2012, which grossed an estimated $18 million, 32% down from last week. While future prospects are not expected to be bright locally, 2012 has already earned $455 million worldwide, making it one of the year’s highest worldwide earners.

Faring best amongst the weekend’s new releases was the John Travolta-Robin Williams comedy Old Dogs, which brought in an estimated $16.8 million in ticket sales. Trashed by virtually every critic in the country, the film received a pitiful 6% on Rotten Tomatoes making it a strong contender for the 2010 Razzie awards.

As expected, Disney’s A Christmas Carol saw its numbers jump by 30%, pulling in another $16 million this weekend for an overall tally of $105 million. Holiday themed films such as this tend to score well during Thanksgiving and throughout the holiday season therefore it’s going to be awhile before this film disappears from theaters. Expect another bump in sales during the week before Christmas.

Disney's A Christmas Carol

Debuting in sixth place was actioner Ninja Assassin which grossed an estimated $13 million in sales. The poorly received film, featuring incoherent action and a cliché-ridden storyline has earned $21 million so far and is not expected to be a long running performer during the festive season.

Holding much better than expected in seventh place was critically trashed animated comedy Planet 51 which saw its earnings drop a mere 17% for a $10.2 million weekend tally.

Critical darling Precious wasn’t the choice of many viewers this weekend. The film lost 34% of its audience to earn $7 million this weekend. While the drop is expected – I don’t know many people who would choose to watch a grim film like this on a holiday weekend – its numbers should jump after the Golden Globe nominations are announced on December 15.

After playing in limited release for two weekends, Wes Anderson’s critically acclaimed animated caper Fantastic Mr. Fox grossed a mediocre $7 million this weekend upping its tally to $10 million. Word-of-mouth is expected to be strong for the admired film which should play well until the debut of Disney’s The Princess & The Frog.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Closing out the top 10 were The Men Who Stare at Goats and The Road, both earning close to $1.5 million.

Disney's The Princess & the Frog opened in four theaters in New York and Los Angelesand grossed $712,000 over the weekend and $1.1 million since Thanksgiving day. The numbers were bolstered by high ticket prices due to the specialty nature of the screenings. The film goes wide on December 11.

Next weekend sees the wide release of two new films – the drama Brothers starring Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire, and the action-thriller Armored starring Matt Dillon, Jean Reno and Lawrence Fishburne. Neither are likely to topple The Blind Side or New Moon from their top two spots.

For last week’s top 10, click here.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (NOVEMBER 27 - 29)