Emmerich's 2012 Destroys at the Box Office

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend.

Roland Emmerich kicked off the holiday season in earnest with the biggest single movie weekend box office take since July, as his latest disaster flick 2012 (Sony Pictures), starring John Cusack and Chiwetel Ejiofor, brought in an estimated $65 million over the weekend, making it the seventh-biggest November opener ever. Produced for $200 million, Emmerich's latest simultaneously brought in $160 million outside the United States for a 3-day worldwide gross of $225 million.

In its second weekend, Disney's A Christmas Carol, Robert Zemeckis' animated Charles Dickens adaptation starring Jim Carrey, had a moderate drop of 26% to end up in second place with $22.3 million. It has grossed $63.3 million in ten days playing in regular, IMAX and digital 3D theaters.

Grant Heslov's political comedy The Men Who Stare at Goats (Overture Films), starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor remained in third place with an estimated $6.2 million and $23.4 million total gross.

Nipping at its heels, Lee Daniels' runaway hit Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate) expanded into 174 theaters and did well enough to end up in fourth place with $6.1 million, averaging over $35 thousand per site. The indie drama reportedly made for $10 million has grossed $9 million so far with plans to expand even wider over the next two weekends.

Michael Jackson's This Is It (Sony) took its biggest drop, plummeting over 60% to end up in fifth place with $5.1 million and $68.2 million total. The Milla Jovovich thriller The Fourth Kind (Universal) dropped to sixth place with a similar drop to bring in $4.7 million this weekend and $20.5 million total. It remained just ahead of Paramount's Paranormal Activity with $4.6 million, as it crossed the $100 million mark on Friday.

Richard Curtis' seaward musical comedy Pirate Radio (Focus Features) ended up outside the Top 10 at #11 with less than $2.9 million in 882 theaters.

The Top 10 grossed roughly $126 million, which was down 6% from last year when Sony's Quantum of Solace topped the box office with $67.5 million.

Opening in four theaters in New York and L.A., Wes Anderson's animated adaptation of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox (20th Century Fox) brought in $260 thousand, roughly $65k per site, while Oren Moverman's The Messenger (Oscilloscope Labs) brought in $50 thousand in the same number of theaters.