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Skyfall does add another anomaly to its very odd run, as any film that takes down a Twilight picture has a special place in my heart. It now looks longingly at the $300 million plateau, a number it’s going to have a hard time reaching. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 earned about $40 million from the end of this weekend until the end of its run. That would just be enough for Skyfall to reach $300 million, so we will keep an eye on it throughout the holiday season. Instead, it will likely be in the lower levels of the top ten by the time I open my Christmas presents. So far, Skyfall has earned $261.6 million at the domestic box office. Its worldwide number is even more significant, though. With $918 million worldwide, the 23rd Bond film has now passed Spider-Man 3 to become Sony's highest-grossing film ever.

Number two this weekend is not Breaking Dawn Part 2. Instead, it’s Rise of the Guardians, which is rising at the right time. It may be too little, too late, though, and probably shouldn’t have been a Thanksgiving release. After a 44% drop last weekend, Rise of the Guardians improved on its plunge, earning $10.5 million this weekend and falling a much better 21%. It’s great that this $145 million holiday release had a good third frame, because it will likely be hurt next weekend when The Hobbit opens. Paramount will likely feel little pain from Rise of the Guardians, but it is certainly not going to be a bonanza, either. A combination of domestic and international receipts will likely keep this one in the black, but there was a feeling that this could have been one of the BIG holiday pictures, and it is simply not going to be. If it can keep its percentage of decline low, it might earn another $40 million by the first weekend in January, but it won’t match its production budget domestically. Give it $61.9 million so far.

That puts The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 down to third. Part 2 earned $9.2 million this weekend, which is actually a bit better than the $7.8 million that Part 1 did over the same weekend last year. It declines an okay 47%, and brings the overall gross up to $268.7 million. Two more weekends and it’s gone forever. What a Christmas it will be!

Lincoln takes fourth place for the second consecutive weekend. The presidential release earned another $9.1 million, falling 32% from the previous frame. Along with Skyfall, Lincoln has played very strongly to adults, staying the third or fourth spot for four consecutive weekends, and has a strong chance at remaining in fourth next weekend, when it will also cross the $100 million mark. Lincoln cost Buena Vista only $65 million to make, and has a gross so far of $97.3 million.

Fifth spot goes to Life of Pi, a film that has only seen one ranking in the top ten over three weekends of release. This weekend, the Ang Lee spectacle earned $8.3 million, dropping 32% compared to the previous frame. It will be interesting to see how a film like Life of Pi does once the heavy hitting competition enters the field. So far, the $120 million film has earned $60.9 million, but it’s also cleared the $65 million mark overseas. It will be in good shape once all is said and done.

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