'Twilight' tops Thanksgiving B.O. as 'Guardians' fails to rise
After two days of Thanksgiving holiday moviegoing, it seems newcomer "Rise of the Guardians" won't have to loosen its belt, as the toon collected a less-than-filling $8.6 million. "Twilight" finale, "Breaking Dawn -- Part 2," easily will top the five-day holiday fray, with a projected $60 million-plus domestic take.
"Rise of the Guardians," the last DreamWorks Animation film to go through Paramount, looks to collect in five days (high $20 millions) what most observers anticipated the film would gross in three. The film earned $4.9 million on Wednesday, then fell nearly 25% Thanksgiving day, with $3.7 million.
By comparison, Fox's 3D epic "Life of Pi" debuted Wednesday with $3.7 million. Pic grew 22% the following day -- an usual Thanksgiving bump, generally speaking -- grossing $4.5 million. "Pi" should eclipse "Guardians" through Sunday (based on Thursday's uptick), which would put the Fox film well above its pre-weekend tracking estimates in the high-teens. Neither film, however, is expected to outpace Disney-DreamWorks' "Lincoln," which grossed $9.1 million Wednesday-Thursday, for a Stateside cume of $37.2 million.
The weekend's third wide release, FilmDistrict's "Red Dawn" remake, earned $7.4 million in its first two days, which should translate to roughly $22 million in five.
"Twilight" is playing just a touch above its predecessor, having earned $20.9 million over the last two days vs. $20.1 million for "Breaking Dawn -- Part 1" this time last year. "Part 2" has cumed $183.8 million domestically through Thursday.
Sony-MGM's James Bond holdover "Skyfall" should nab second place this weekend; pic earned $7.7 million Thursday, bringing its North American cume to $185.7 million. -- Andrew Stewart





