Box Office: 2012 Destroys the Weekend Box Office with $65 Million Opening

The holiday movie season continues its hot streak with the disaster film 2012 destroying the weekend box office with a $65 million opening. Director Roland Emmerich is the king of destruction on screen having brought audiences Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. Surpassing expectations, 2012 easily took the number one spot after a $23 million opening day, which led to $65 million by the end of weekend. Last week A Christmas Carol started the holiday movie season with $31 million, and next week will continue with big box office numbers when The Twilight Saga: New Moon hits theaters everywhere.

With a $200 million budget, 2012 is off to a strong start with such a huge opening weekend. Although the film faced no new competition, the John Cusack led movie about the end of the world was a popular choice even though the movie was critically panned. With a film like 2012 you have to understand that you aren’t going for the acting, the logic, or a good plot twist. As our own David Williams pointed out in his review, you are going for the over the top spectacular special effects.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol held on strong for a number two finish this weekend. The Robert Zemeckis 3D animated movie pulled in $22.3 million in week two. A Christmas Carol now stands at $63.2 million and should continue with big numbers as we get closer to the holidays.

George Clooney’s The Men Who Stare at Goats fell to the number three spot with $6.2 million and a cumulative gross of $23.3 million after two weeks of release.

Number four went to the limited release film Precious which playing on only 174 screens managed to gross $6 million this weekend. That is a per screen average of $35,000 which was higher than any other movie this weekend. The critically praised film already has Oscar buzz mounting after two weeks in release.

Michael Jackson’s This Is It took the number five spot with $5.1 million. After three weeks of release the music documentary has grossed $68.2 million.

Pirate Radio, the limited release from Focus Features, made $2.8 million opening weekend on 882 screes nationwide. Richard Curtis’ film about a group of rock n’ roll rebels who broadcast music from an offshore boat during the 1970′s has received mixed reviews. If you were wondering, this movie was originally titled The Boat that Rocked. Check out the trailer here.

Next week we will be reporting on The Twilight Saga: New Moon as it makes its decent on movie theaters everywhere. Look for huge numbers, tons of excited teenage girls, and a film which will dominate the month of November.

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Box office numbers courtesy of Box Office Mojo