Harry Potter gobbled up the competition this Thanksgiving weekend.
With a five-day total of $81.3 million, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire easily took the top spot in its second week, bringing its grand total to $201 million. The Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line also stayed in second for its second week with a five-day total of $27.6 million.
If estimates hold, this will be the second highest grossing Thanksgiving ever with a total of $218.3 million, behind year 2000, which topped at $232.1 million.
“You’ve got to look at Harry Potter as being the savior of the box office right now,” Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations told The Associated Press. “Who would have thought in a year we’re having this down box office that we’d have the second-biggest Thanksgiving ever?”
The new crop of films released this week also fared well. The family comedy remake Yours, Mine and Ours debuted in third place with a five-day total of $24.5 million. Rent, a feature film version of the smash Broadway musical, opened in fifth place with $18.5 million, while Ryan Reynold’s newest comedy Just Friends opened in sixth with $13.6 million. Bringing up the rear were In the Mix–pop singer Usher’s stab at feature films–which came in ninth with $5 million, and The Ice Harvest–a heist-gone-bad dark comedy starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton–which debuted in 10th place with $4.8 million.
The Top 12 films grossed an estimated $218.3 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday, up 3 percent from last year’s draw of $211.9 million. But the three-day weekend total of $151 million was down 12.14 percent from last weekend’s total of $171.8 million.
The top three films at the box office this time last year were: Buena Vista’s PG rated National Treasure, which stayed at No. 1 in its second week with $45.6 million five-day total in 3,243 theaters, averaging $14,066 per theater; Buena Vista/Pixar’s PG rated The Incredibles, which moved up a spot to second place in its fourth week with $32.8 million in 3,453 theaters, averaging $9,501 per theater; and Sony Pictures’ PG rated Christmas with the Kranks, which opened in third place with $30.8 million in 3,393 theaters, averaging $9,083 per theater. (Click here to read last year’s box office report)
BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES (Reflects Five-Day Totals)
(Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Warner Bros., PG-13)
• Gross: $81.3 million (-46%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 3,858 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $14,231
• Cume to date: $201 million
No. 2: Walk the Line (20th Century Fox, PG-13)
• Gross: $27.6 million (-12%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 3,138 (+177)
• Per-theater average: $6,278
• Cume to date: $54.7 million
No. 3: Yours, Mine and Ours (Paramount, PG)
• Gross: $24.5 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3,206
• Per-theater average: $5,451
No. 4: Chicken Little (Buena Vista, G)
• Gross: $16.7 million (-16%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 3,475 (-39)
• Per-theater average: $3,574
• Cume to date: $118.2 million
No. 5: Rent (Sony Pictures, PG-13)
• Gross: $18.5 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,433
• Per-theater average: $4,398
No. 6: Just Friends (New Line Cinema, PG-13)
• Gross: $13.6 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,505
• Per-theater average: $3,703
No. 7: Pride and Prejudice (Focus Features, PG)
• Gross: $9.5 million (+228%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 1,299 (+1,078)
• Per-theater average: $5,410
• Cume to date: $15.9 million
No. 8: Derailed (Weinstein Co., R)
• Gross: $6.3 million (-28%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 2,061 (-386)
• Per-theater average: $2,289
• Cume to date: $6.3 million
No. 9: In the Mix (Lions Gate, PG-13)
• Gross: $6.1 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 1,608
• Per-theater average: $2,783
No. 10: The Ice Harvest (Focus Features, R)
• Gross: $5 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 1,550
• Per-theater average: $2,415
OTHER OPENINGS
The Libertine (Weinstein Company, R)
• Gross: $26,806
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2
• Per-theater average: $13,403
Syriana (Warner Bros., R)
• Gross: $553,372
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 5
• Per-theater average: $74,429
