Weekend Box Office: December 28 - 30

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - $32.9 million

2.  Django Unchained - $30.6 million

3.  Les Miserables - $28 million

4.  Parental Guidance - $14.8 million

5.  Jack Reacher - $14 million

6.  This is 40 - $13.1 million

7.  Lincoln - $7.5 million

8.  The Guilt Trip - $6.7 million

9.  Monsters Inc 3D - $6.3 million

10.  Rise of the Guardians - $4.9 million

The final weekend of 2012 was a busy one at the box office, with The Hobbit continuing the dominate and some Christmas day openers bringing in big business as well.  In its third straight weekend in first place, The Hobbit crossed the $200 million mark domestically with an estimated $32.9 million.  Overseas, the film has earned an additional $464 million.  It's already surpassed Fellowship of the Ring's $189 million, and is well on the way the surpassing The Two Towers $243 million - but then again, The Hobbit does have the whole 3D/IMAX thing going for it.  Still, it's been impressive run for The Hobbit.

Django Unchained and Les Miserables, which both opened on Christmas Day, continued to do well over the weekend, with Django finally able to leap past Les Mis to finish in second with $30.6 million.  Since Christmas, the film has earned $64 million.  Les Miserables was just behind it with $28 million.  Die-hard fans of the stage musical who raced out to see it (like me) kept it ahead of Django for the first few days, but unlike most movie musicals which drop sharply once the fans of the stage version have gotten it out of their system, Les Mis was still a draw this weekend.  In fact, the soundtrack is about to hit Billboard's Top Ten.  Worldwide, the musical has already grossed $116 million.

The comedy Parental Guidance is turning out to be one of those movies that families get and critics don't, having survived scathing reviews to earn a healthy $29 million since opening on Christmas Day.   By the way, does anyone else remember the last time Billy Crystal had two movies in the top 10?  Monsters Inc 3D, Disney's lastest entry in their 3D re-release series, never seemed to pick up much traction, earning $6.3 million for the weekend.  Whether or not that bodes well for next year's prequel Monsters University remains to be seen - most families I know would rather shell out the 3D tickets money for a new Pixar movie over one they already have at home.

Jack Reacher is holding its own with $14 million, as is This is 40, with $13.1 million.

Although it fell out of the top ten this weekend, Skyfall still has cause to celebrate, having just passed the $1 billion mark worldwide.  That makes it the first Bond film to do so, and puts it just behind The Dark Knight as the 14th all-time highest grossing film worldwide.

The first weekend of 2013 brings the usual January dumping-ground fare, as Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D is the only major release planned.  But with it being Oscar season and all, at least it will be a good weekend to catch up on everything else in theaters.

Happy New Year, everyone!