Weekend Box Office: January 4-6

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D:  $23 million

2.  Django Unchained:  $20 million

3.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey:  $17.5 million

4.  Les Miserables - $16.1 million

5.  Parental Guidance - $10.1 million

6.  Jack Reacher - $9.3 million

7.  This Is 40 - $8.5 million

8.  Lincoln - $5.2 million

9.  The Guilt Trip - $4.5 million

10.  Promised Land - $4.3 million

The Christmas decorations came down and the mass murderers arrived at the multiplexes this weekend as the latest remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (this time in 3D!) took first place with a surprisingly strong $23 million.  No doubt the the 3D helped boost those numbers, as the film earned nearly half of that $23 million on Friday and only mustered a C+ rating from audiences, according to Cinemascore.  But since Lionsgate spends next to nothing making these films, it really won't matter if the movie bottoms out from here.  God help us, with that kind of weekend, we'll probably get a sequel.

Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained continued to dominate, crossing the $100 million mark with an estimated $20 million, and is well on its way to become Tarantino's most successful film at the box office.  Also crossing $100 million faster than any other movie musical was Les Miserables, which finished in fourth place with $16.1 million.  The musical has earned another $67 million overseas, and that box office should get another boost when Les Mis finally opens in the UK (home of the original stage production) next weekend. 

It seems you just can't keep a good Hobbit down, as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey gets that much closer to $300 million stateside, earning $17.5 million in its fourth weekend.  The prequel has fared even better overseas, where it has earned an additional $561 million.  After surviving horrid reviews to be a hit with families over the holiday week, Parental Guidance also continues to do well, earning $10.3 million for the weekend.

Next weekend finally brings the release of Gangster Squad, which was delayed after the Aurora shootings last summer.  Joining it will be the horror spoof A Haunted House.  Better yet, since the Oscar nominations will be announced on Thursday, Oscar favorite Zero Dark Thirty (which earned $2.75 million in just 60 theaters this weekend) finally goes into wide release on Friday.  Let awards season officially begin!