The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 topped the charts for the third week in a row, but the overall box slumped 5% from the same weekend last year.  Breaking Dawn tumbled nearly 60%, but its estimated $16.9 million was more than enough to insure the top spot with no new films opening during what is traditionally one of the weakest frames of the year.
 
The penultimate Twilight film has now earned $247.3 million domestically and $341 million overseas for a $588.3 million worldwide total in just 17 days.  This marks the first time in series history that a Twilight film has ruled the box office for three weeks in a row.
 

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): December 2 - 4, 2011

 

Film

Weekend Gross

Screens

Avg./

Screen

Total Gross

Wk#

1

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

$16,900,000

4,046

$4,177

$247,300,000

3

2

The Muppets

$11,200,000

3,440

$3,256

$56,137,000

2

3

Hugo

$7,625,000

1,840

$4,144

$25,188,000

2

4

Arthur Christmas

$7,350,000

3,376

$2,177

$25,292,000

2

5

Happy Feet Two

$6,000,000

3,536

$1,697

$51,785,000

3

6

Jack and Jill

$5,500,000

3,049

$1,804

$64,308,000

4

7

The Descendants

$5,200,000

574

$9,059

$18,087,000

3

8

Immortals

$4,394,000

2,627

$1,673

$75,588,000

4

9

Tower Heist

$4,100,000

2,404

$1,705

$70,800,000

5

10

Puss in Boots

$3,050,000

2,750

$1,109

$139,522,000

6

 
Contrary to expectations the latest Twilight film did not receive a strong challenge from The Muppets, which tumbled 62%, which was more than Disney’s previous Thanksgiving offerings such as Tangled, which fell 56%, and Enchanted, which slipped 52% in the post Turkey Day frame.  Given The Muppets excellent reviews and the “A” CinemaScore rating from audiences during its first weekend, the film’s 62% drop is puzzling, so it should be interesting to see if the film bounces back over the next few weeks.
 
Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, which was honored as “Film of the Year” by the National Board of Review last week and is generating serious Oscar buzz, dropped just 32.9% and finished in third place.  It should be noted that Paramount increased the theater count for Hugo considerably, but its per-theater average was almost identical with that of Breaking Dawn.  The small decline is good news, but Hugo has a long way to go before it will earn back its $150 million cost, so Paramount is hoping to keep the Oscar buzz going.
 
Aardman Animation’s Arthur Christmas also fared well in its second frame dropping just 39.1% as it earned a solid $7.3 million.  In spite of its disappointing opening last week, this film still has a chance over the next few weeks if word-of-mouth stays positive.
 
The green screen sword and sandals epic Immortals slipped to number 8 in its fourth week of release.  Produced for $75 million, Immortals, which stars Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) has earned $75.6 million domestically and $91 million overseas for a worldwide total of $166.6 million. 
 
Alexander Payne’s The Descendants, which stars George Clooney, moved up to #7 as Fox Searchlight added 184 theaters, bringing the total to 574.  The Descendants had the best per-theater average in the top 10, a figure that was only topped by the “NC-17” sex addict saga Shame, which was shown in just 10 theaters, and The Artist, the Franco-Belgian love letter to Hollywood in the Silent Era, which was available just six theaters nationwide.
 
Check back here next week to find out if Twilight can make it a full month on top or if New Year’s Day or The Sitter will be able to unseat it.