The Weekend Report: November 27, 2011

Holiday Leftovers

There was no sunset for Twilight as its fourth incarnation Breaking Dawn ascended to the top of weekend movie sales with an estimated $41.9 million for the three-day slice of the Thanksgiving holiday session.

Three new national releases – all targeted toward family viewing – failed to enliven the festive spirit that came early last weekend but didn’t sustain the merriment. The re-booted The Muppets ranked second with $29.3 million (all figures reflect three-day box office). Two other films targeted that segment with 3D offerings. The animated Arthur Christmas bowed to $12.3 million while the period adventure Hugo arrived at the station with $11.3 million.

Bollywood newcomer Desi Boys opened under par with $530,000 at 103 venues while there was an encouraging first blush for My Week with Marilyn of $1.8 million from an opening tease at 244 sites. The response was even brighter for a couple of exclusive openings. The silent film homage The Artist rang up $211,000 from four screens and the Jung at heart A Dangerous Method proved more than a Freudian slip with $173,000; also at four venues. (An Oscar qualifying run for Rampart was not reported)

The weekend portion of the holiday frame generated roughly $165 million in ticket sales with an additional $65 million in revenues from Wednesday and Thursday. It represented a 27% decline from last weekend and a 10% slip from Thanksgiving 2010. A year ago the second weekend of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Part 1 led with $49.1 million with the debut of Tangled on its heels with $48.8 million.

Macys certainly wasn’t telling Gimbels as three new films all took aim for the family audience and not surprisingly nibbled into each other’s potential. Already in that mix were Happy Feet Two and Puss in Boots clawing for the PG crowd.

The Muppets nonetheless came closest to hitting its mark thanks to its appeal to a boomer audience that learned the alphabet from the furry folk back in the 1970s. Disney acquired Kermit and friends back in 2004 and the big question is what took so long to get them back on the big screen (it was also announced this week that their variety TV show will re-launch next year). Studio exit demos identified the crowd as 75% family with 54% of the audience 25 years old and younger.

Arthur Christmas, though seemingly more youthful in appeal, had demos that showed its audience was 31% younger than 25 years of age. Hugo, the most adult of the trio, did not provide exit demos which it plans to conduct when the picture expands in two weeks.

Additionally 800 sneaks of another family film, We Bought a Zoo, appeared to indicate that the picture’s appeal crossed generations.

It’s not particularly ironic that the sole wide release to see its box office go up would be the adult friendly Tower Heist. As for the award season contenders, the only early entry that appears to have traction is The Descendants.

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