Weeekend Box Office: “Twilight” closes well

Just as I predicted in this weekend’s Box Office Beat column, the final installment of the “Twilight Saga” franchise, “Breaking Dawn – Part 2,” was able to duplicate the box office success of its predecessor and gross in the $140m opening weekend range — $141.3m, to be exact. That’s a strong finish for what has been one of the most unlikely lucrative franchises of the New Millennium (remember, the first “Twilight” was picked up in turnaround). The final domestic gross on “Breaking Dawn – Part 2” could end up anywhere between the $281m of “Breaking Dawn: Part 1” and the series-high $300.5m of “Eclipse.” It all depends on how many Twihards are eager to say goodbye to Bella, Edward, and Jacob multiple times.

“Skyfall,” the widely praised third James Bond film starring Daniel Craig, dropped 53 percent from its opening weekend for a second weekend gross of $41.5m, showing better legs than its immediate predecessor, “Quantum of Solace” (which dropped 60 percent). But the real success among “movies for adult males” this weekend was Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” which exceeded expectations with $21m from just 1,775 sites. Expect a long run taking this film to over $100m throughout the awards season.

On the limited release front, both “The Silver Linings Playbook” (which I’ll post a review of later today) and “Anna Karenina” (which I’ll post a review of on Wednesday morning) opened to fine, but modest numbers. The former film, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, played to $458,000, whereas the latter, starring Keira Knightley, played to $315,000 — both in 16 theaters each. “The Silver Linings Playbook” carries more mainstream appeal and has a better shot at box office glory in the future, though “Anna Karenina” is just as good a film (if not a better one).

Check out the full top 10 chart below:

Source: Box Office Mojo