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Subscribe to RSSJames Bond showed remarkable staying power at the box office as the latest installment of the spy series, "Skyfall," collected $11 million in its fifth week in U.S. and Canadian movie theaters to top Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" and "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2," the final installment of the blockbuster vampire series.
"Skyfall," the 23rd film in the series featuring Agent 007, also captured the box office when it first opened on November 2. Distributed by Sony's Hollywood studio, it is already the best-selling movie in the 49-year old series, and this weekend became the highest grossing movie in Sony Pictures' history with $918 million in ticket sales worldwide. "Skyfall" has brought in nearly $262 million from the United States and Canada, according to the movie tracking site Hollywood.com.
Family flick "Rise of the Guardians" finished second with $10.5 million, working its way toward becoming the season's primary family hit in its third week.
"Breaking Dawn - Part 2," which led the box office for the past three weekends, tallied $9.2 million. The five-movie series, released by Lions Gate Entertainment, is based on Stephenie Meyer's best-selling book about young vampire love and has collected more than $1.3 billion in overall domestic ticket sales.
"Lincoln," produced by Dreamworks and released by Walt Disney, chronicles the 16th president's successful fight to pass a constitutional amendment outlawing slavery. It had ticket sales of $9.1 million, according to studio estimates provided by the box office division of Hollywood.com.
Fox's "Life of Pi" rounded out the top five with $8.3 million.
Hollywood studios shied away from scheduling major movies this weekend, steering clear of the expected blockbuster "The Hobbit," which Warner Brothers will release on December 14. The movie, based on the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy novel about wizards and dwarves, features many of the same actors from the blockbuster "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
Related content:
- Review: 'Skyfall' is spectacular
- James Bond lied to us: Death by paint unlikely
- Review: 'Lincoln' an engrossing look at politics
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Excellent marketing and positioning by Dreamworks for this film.
Maybe its poetic justice for Speilberg wanting a fouled mouth Lincoln!
I thought Lincoln was an outstanding movie. Not one that would necessarily appeal to the younger crowd as it was not full of "action." It was very thought provoking though and I expect it will get nominated for more than one Oscar this spring. Were there a few swear words, yes, but hey, I hear worse than that from the neighborhood kids whose only adjective seems to begin with the letter F.
I agree Miss Copper. Young peoples interest in history is also low on their radar as well. Likely they spend more time on facebook than reading what was an incredible period in the US.
Since this movie (Lincoln) had nothing to do with history, being just a Progressive/Liberal fantasy, it's ok that young people don't show much interest in it. They get enough brainwashing from the left as it is.
Are you implying that slavery should be reinstated carlc?
A "progressive/liberal fantasy"? How so Carl? It's based on the historical work of a Lincoln scholar who is also a Pulitzer Prize winner. What about it was tainted by a "liberal/progressive" agenda?
Actually, the movie chronicles the last triumphal and tragic days of the man who was perhaps our greatest President. A flawed individual as human as the rest of us, but a man driven by his humanity to do the impossible, to free the slaves.
And here we are 150 years later and we have just witnessed the re-election of the heir to President Lincoln's legacy. A man, a symbolic combination of white America and black Africa, Barack Obama has just won his second term as President of these United States.
I think that's the "liberal/progressive" agenda that carl finds objectionable. Like so many white Americans, he cannot accept the fact that we have a black man as our President or that Abraham Lincoln is the man who made that possible 150 years ago. Sadly, Lincoln would not recognize the Republican party today.
Welcome to the 21st century carl. Luckily you are the last of your kind and soon you'll join your cousin the Dodo in extinction.
This is (more) proof that there's no justice in the world. Saw both movies. Lincoln was an incredible trip back in history. Superb writing, incredible acting, and attention to detail in the setting. We really enjoyed the movie.
Skyfall was three (or more) box office stars and a director going for mucho bucks with a poorly written, illogically plotted, movie. It was certainly an embarrassment when compared to earlier Bond films. Unfortunately, they will likely succeed in their money grab. Bottom line: Skyfall was a waste of time. Don't waste your money.
Lincoln is amazing. The grief of the president and his wife in the scene where they are discussing the death of their son is so realistically depicted as to be almost palpable.
But the movie is probably to cerebral and its theme about the political process to attract many younger people.
TOO cerebral. Not "to". :)
You know, the generation before you homesick made the same type of comments about your generation as well.
Finally saw Skyfall this weekend, after waiting out the crowds. It was good, but not as great as everyone made it seem. Started losing interest when they didn't show how the villain escaped custody. And why weren't the divulged agents pulled out instead of being left to be killed?
still god movie though
"good"
49 year old series? really? it's 50!
How many of you movie goers are out of work? Is this a great country or what?
I have seen both of these movies in the last week and was captivated
by Lincoln and found Skyfall wanting in many areas. Daniel Craig in Skyfall was good and so was Berenice Marlohe but
rest of the movie left me wanting. I
actually fell asleep for a few seconds at one point. Lincoln on the other hand was great. It personalized a great American president and showed some of the
intrigue in his political dealing. I
would recommend Lincoln but would not give a whole-hearted recommendation to
Skyfall.
Unfortunately many people these days prefer the trivial to the cerebral.
Havent seen this yet. But I am looking forward to seeing it.
Obama should have been the first in line to see Lincoln. I wouldn't waste my money on a movie about Lincoln. Bye the way Skyfall was a good movie.
Ok. We'll put you down on the "uncerebral" list. :)
jimmymac...........if you think Lincoln movie was cerebral then you must be uncerebral.
All I can say is that BOTH Films , Skyfall and Lincoln have GREAT Character Image. They look SO PERFECT for the MAIN CHARACTER of movies. How can you NOT like to SEE ALL these movies. Yeah! the Twilight films are OK, but it does not amount to much, good for the KIDS.
I'm not surprised that the Lincoln movie only pulled in 9.1 million. Something like that just isn't going to get the younger audiences which make up a vast overwhelming majority of the people who go out to the theaters.
I'm looking forward to next weekend when everyone will start complaining about the Hobbit movie and the fact that they turned a 220'ish page book into 6+ hours of movie. I, for one, am definitely not supporting that movie at all.
I really want to see the Lincoln movie, but to be honest, 3 1/2 hours is way way way too long for me to sit in a theater. I'll have to wait for redbox so that I can pause it for a break, kick my feet back, and really enjoy the movie.
The movie Lincoln is so engrossing that you don't even notice the time. Absolutely riveting.