'Skyfall' Soars

Money matter naught!  However, the latest Bond. James Bond epic Skyfall, the third starring Daniel Craig, has made a boatload.  Yielding the biggest opening weekend gross for a Bond film ever, special for the 23rd film in the franchise, and the in the 50th Anniversary of Bond.  Netting $87 million in its opening frame in North America, and $90 million counting midnight shows and a premium Thursday times presented in IMAX and large format screens, this is pretty huge.  Along with its record breaking worldwide run (which started before its stateside debut), the Sam Mendes-directed 007 tale is now worth upwards of half a billion dollars.  Not too shabby for a man in his fifties.  That the film marks one of the best reviewed titles ever for the franchise is the cherry on top, or the shaken martini.

1. SKYFALL- $87.8 million \ $90.0 total
2. WRECK-IT-RALPH- $33 million \ $93.6 total (-32%)
3. FLIGHT- $15.1 million \ $47.7 total (-39%)
4. ARGO- $6.7 million \ $85.7 total (-33%)
5. TAKEN 2- $4 million \ $131 total (-32%)
6. HERE COMES THE BOOM- $2.5 million \ $39 total (-27%)
7. CLOUD ATLAS- $2.5 million \ $22 total (-53%)
8. PITCH PERFECT- $2.5 million \ $59 total (-18%)
9. THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS- $2.4 million \ $12.7 total (-68%)
10. HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA- $2.3 million \ $140.9 total (-46%) 

Aside from the power of Skyfall, Wreck-It-Ralph continued to play strong with a great second weekend, while Flight and Argo continue to hold strong with adults and eventual awards momentum.  A big surprise may be that Pitch Perfect, the affable acapella musical is continuing to hold really well, even as it reaches the two-month mark in its run.

A look at how Skyfall holds up on 2012 opening weekends:

1. MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS- $207.4 million
2. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES- $160.8 million
3. THE HUNGER GAMES- $152.5 million
4. SKYFALL- $87.5 million
5. BRAVE- $66.3 million
6. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN- $62 million
7. MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE'S MOST WANTED- $60.3 million
8. MIB3- $54.47 million
9. TED- $54.4 million
10. PROMETHEUS- $51 million

 Fourth overall for the year, and thirty-first on record-- not adjusted for inflation.

The other big story was the impressive limited debut of Lincoln, Steven Spielberg's Oscar hopeful, which opened to $900,000 on 11 screens, averaging $81,000 per screen.  The well reviewed biopic starring Daniel Day-Lewis will find its real test as it opens wide next weekend, but wowza, that's a huge start, especially considering the two-hour-plus run time likely impacted the amount of show times each theater could run.

Here's the top per screen averages of 2012 so far:

1. THE MASTER- $147,262 (5 screens)
2. MOONRISE KINGDOM- $130,749 (4 screens)
3. LINCOLN- $81,818 (11 screens)
4. TO ROME WITH LOVE- $72,272 (5 screens)
5. SLEEPWALK WITH ME- $68,801 (1 screen)
6. THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER- $57,090 (4 screens)
7. BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD- $42,426 (4 screens)
8. SAMSARA- $38,111 (2 screens)
9. THE HUNGER GAMES- $36,871 (4,137 screens)
10. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES- $35,532 (4,404 screens)