Box Office Still Feeling The Christmases Spirit

Four Christmases was #1 for the second week in a row at the box office this weekend, taking in an estimated $18.1 million and bringing its domestic total to $70.8 million. Last weekend's #2 and #3 swapped places, with Twilight's $13.2 million finishing ahead of Bolt's $9.7 million.

The story of the historically slow weekend however was Punisher: Warzone coming in almost dead in the water with a paltry take of $4 million, way below industry projections. Even Transporter 3 finished ahead of Marvel's latest, with a $4.5 million bow.

Good news, however, remains with smaller specialty films. Frost/Nixon opened with $180,000 across 3 screens, for a second-highest-of-the-year per-screen average of $60,000. Milk and Slumdog Millionaire also continue to perform well, finishing with $1.7 million ($17,000 per-screen average) and $1.4 million ($18,000 per-screen average), respectively. Australia's $7 million take this weekend and Quantum of Solace's $6.6 million round out the top 5.

Despite the weak opening and poor reviews from critics, Punisher will look to bounce back next weekend as fan buzz of the film has been generally positive and its only new competition will be Fox's remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still.

Check out Box Office Mojo for the full weekend chart.

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Four Christmases Wraps Up Weekend Box Office

The Vince Vaughn-Reese Witherspoon holiday comedy Four Christmases debuted at the number 1 spot over the Thanksgiving weekend, raking in a healthy $46.7 million over the five-day weekend.

Christmases grossed $31.6 million over the Friday-Sunday frame, while Baz Luhrmann's highly anticipated epic Australia opened at number 5 with $14.6 million from Friday-Sunday and $20 million over the full five days. Transporter 3, the other big opener this weekend, finished with the number 7 spot and $18.5 million from Wednesday through Sunday.

Disney's Bolt actually saw a 1% growth from last weekend, finishing very strongly at number 2 with $36 million for five days and $26.6 million for the weekend. Twilight easily crossed the $100 million mark with $39.5 million for five days and $26.4 million for the three days, winning the number 3 spot and a cumulative $119.6 million, but saw a 62% drop-off from last weekend.

Gus Van Sant's indie biopic Milk, starring Sean Penn, bowed with a healthy $1.38 million across 36 screens, and Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire continued to perform well with $1.36 million across 49 screens.

Box Office Mojo has the full weekend chart here.

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Quantum of Solace Sets New Box Office Record

We already mentioned how Bond had his biggest opening day on Friday when Quantum of Solace opened wide in the U.S., and now 007 has set a new record with a $70.4 million opening weekend, the best ever for a Bond film.

Solace also grossed an additional $56.1 million overseas (where it bowed as early as October 31 in some territories), bringing its foreign total to $251.6 million and worldwide total to a whopping $322 million - over half of what Casino Royale made in its entire theatrical run.

Meanwhile, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa continued its strong run with a $36.1 million haul and brought its total north of the $100 million mark to $118 million. Universal's sleeper comedy Role Models continues to perform well with a $11.7 million take in its second weekend and $38.1 million total overall.

Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire opened strongly, grossing $350,000 across 10 screens for an impressive per-theater average of $35,000. IFC's A Christmas Tale, the other film starring Mathieu Amalric that opened this weekend, bowed with $65,400 across 7 screens, or $9,343 per theater.

Overall the news was good for Hollywood, with domestic totals up 50% from the same weekend last year.

Click here for the full weekend chart.

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Quantum of Solace is Bond's Biggest Opener

Variety reports that Quantum of Solace hauled in $27 million on opening day, the best of any Bond film yet.

Solace blew away the previous record, held by 2002's Die Another Day, when it opened with $16.6 million. That film went on to make $47.1 million in its first weekend. In second place was the last Bond film, Casino Royale, which opened with $14.7 million and went on to earn $40.8 million for the weekend. Solace looks more than likely to outgross both of those this weekend.

Daniel Craig returns as Bond in the Marc Forster directed Solace, which has already grossed over $160 million in the overseas box office.

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