Lionsgate’s Punisher reboot flopped as Four Christmases topped the box office charts for the second weekend in a row. The Vince Vaughn/Reese Witherspoon comedy dropping just 41.1% and earning an estimated $18.1 million. The vampire romance Twilight continues to show great legs, moving up to the #2 spot with an estimated take of $13.1 million during its third weekend. After performing the rare feat of earning more in its second weekend of its release than it did in its debut, Disney’s Bolt declined a precipitous 63.3% and finished third with a disappointing $9.7 million. The next four spots all went to holdovers,
Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): Dec. 5 - 7, 2008:
Rank | Film | Weekend Gross | Screens | Avg./Screen |
1 | Four Christmases | $18,180,000 | 3,335 | $5,451 |
2 | Twilight | $13,197,000 | 3,620 | $3,646 |
3 | Bolt | $9,696,000 | 3,516 | $2,758 |
4 | Australia | $7,000,000 | 2,721 | $2,573 |
5 | Quantum of Solace | $6,600,000 | 3,423 | $1,928 |
6 | Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa | $5,100,000 | 3,317 | $1,538 |
7 | Transporter 3 | $4,500,000 | 2,626 | $1,714 |
8 | Punisher: War Zone | $4,000,000 | 2,508 | $1,595 |
9 | Cadillac Records | $3,500,000 | 686 | $5,102 |
10 | Role Models | $2,622,000 | 1,907 | $1,375 |
The holdovers didn’t get much help from the three new films that debuted. In spite of opening in 2,508 theaters, Lionsgate’s “makeover” of its only Marvel live action property, Punisher: War Zone earned a mere $4 million--posting a hugely disappointing $1,595 per theater average. Lionsgate’s first Punisher film, which starred Thomas Jane and John Travolta and opened in a similar number of theaters in 2004, earned $13.4 million, a performance that led Variety analysts Ben Fritz and Dave Mcnary to predict on Thursday that “Punisher: War Zone is looking at a tight race with the second weekend of Four Christmases and the third of Bolt and Twilight. All four pics will likely land in the teens.” Rubbing salt in the Punisher’s R-rated wounds was the fact that it was beaten by another Lionsgate’s action pic, Transporter 3, which opened last weekend--don’t ask why Lionsgate chose to open two R-rated action flicks targeting the same young male demographic on successive weekends.
Sony’s Cadillac Records outperformed Punisher: War Zone on per theater basis, earning an average of $5,102, but since it was only in 686 venues, it earned only an estimated $3.5 million. The other newcomer was Freestyle’s drama Nobel Son, which could only manage a pathetic $415 per theater average from 893 theaters.