Throughout last week, the predictions of how well Skyfall would do on its US opening kept growing. It went from a possible $50 million debut, until the day before its opening many were thinking $60 million, perhaps even $70 million. By Friday the predictions had reached $80 million, but in the end even that was too conservative, as by Sunday it had hit $90 million.
That’s way ahead of the previous biggest Bond opening, which was Quantum Of Solace’s $67 million, and more than double Casino Royal’s $40 million first three days take. It’s an impressive debut, especially as for many years, 007 has been softer in the US than elsewhere. But then, perhaps Americans had gotten wind of how crazy the rest of the world has been for the movie, as it’s predicted that by the end of today, the film will have taken more outside the US than any previous Bond movie, and it’s done that in less than three weeks.
Skyfall was the only new entry in the US top 10, but a little further down, Spielberg’s Lincoln placed 15th with $900,000 on its opening, but it was only playing on 11 screens. That means it took an impressive $81,818 per cinema. The real test through will come next weekend, when it expands massively across the country.
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend on November 9th-11th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | Skyfall | $87.7 | $90.0 |
| 2 | Wreck-It Ralph | $33.0 | $93.6 |
| 3 | Flight | $15.1 | $47.7 |
| 4 | Argo | $6.7 | $85.7 |
| 5 | Taken 2 | $4.0 | $131.2 |
| 6 | Here Comes The Boom | $2.5 | $39.0 |
| 7 | Cloud Atlas | $2.5 | £23 |
| 8 | Pitch Perfect | $2.5 | $59.0 |
| 9 | The Man With The Iron Fists | $2.4 | $12.7 |
| 10 | Hotel Transylvania | $2.0 | $140.9 |
Wreck-It Ralph certainly got a good start this weekend, with the highest opening ever for a non-Pixar Disney animated movie. The film took $49.1 million, just ahead of Tangled’s $48.8 million debut. It’s a great start, helped by the fact it appealed to both boys and girls, and with little to challenge it in the family demographic over the next few weeks, it should have strong legs.
It was certainly a slow weekend at the US box office, with no new movie coming that really excited audiences. It allowed Argo, which has been showing strong legs, to top the box office on its third week of release. Ben Affleck’s film dropped only 24% from last weekend to add another $12 million, for a total of $60 million so far.
While each of the previous Paranormal Activity movies has opened stronger than the last, Paranormal Activity 4 broke that streak with a soft $30 million debut. It will still be an incredibly profitable film, as it only cost $5 million to make, but it’s certainly a dip from part 3’s $52.6 million.
Taken 2 has topped the US box office for a second week running, taking another $22.5 million to take it total to $86 million after 10 days. While the holdover stayed top, Ben Affleck’s Argo was a strong second, outpacing many people’s expectations by taking $20 million to place second on the charts. It also got a very good reaction from audiences, suggesting it should have a good run at cinemas.
Sony execs will be smiling today, as while September is usually seen as a bad time to release family films in the US, Hotel Transylvania took a strong $43 million, which isn’t just good for an original animated movie, but is actually the biggest weekend gross any movie has ever taken in September. Indeed the month is normally such a slow time the previous record holder was Sweet Home Alabama, which took $35.6 million on its opening in 2002.