February 12, 2012

Four Christmases Goes Back for Seconds

by Andrew Gnerre | Published December 8, 2008

Without many enticing new options hitting theaters this past weekend, moviegoers stuck with what they knew. The Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn vehicle Four Christmases was victorious again, taking home $18.2 million in its second week, pushing this poorly reviewed Christmas comedy beyond the $70 million mark. Twilight and Bolt, each movie in its third week in release, pulled in $13.2 million and $9.7 million, respectively. These grosses place the teenage vampires just shy of an insane $140 million three-week total and the animated dog just south of $80 million.

The only new releases to break the top 10 were Cadillac Records, earning $3.5 million on 686 screens, and Punisher: War Zone, stumbling through the weekend with an abysmal $4 million on 2,508 screens—making it an absolute bomb.

Next week Vaughn and Witherspoon will see some festive competition with the release of Nothing Like the Holidays, an ensemble Christmas picture starring Alfred Molina, Freddy Rodríguez, Luis Guzmán, Debra Messing, Jay Hernandez and John Leguizamo. Also set for release this Friday are one possible blockbuster (The Day the Earth Stood Still starring Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates and John Cleese) and a handful of Oscar contenders making sure to get their required New York and Los Angeles runs in before the new year (John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt starring Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and MM cover girl Amy Adams; The Reader with Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes; and Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino). Check back next week at the Top of the Box Office report to see what happens.