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That means Skyfall moves from first last weekend to fourth this weekend, but after six weekends of release and a gross approaching $275 million, there’s only so much 007 can do. This weekend, Skyfall took in $7 million, and declined 35%. Maybe the most interesting thing here is that MGM, a studio that has a history of screwing up at all the wrong times, has a piece of both Skyfall and The Hobbit. Skyfall has earned $272.4 million so far, and continues to look dreamily at the $300 million mark.

Fives are lucky for Life of Pi, as the Ang Lee film spends its fourth consecutive weekend in the number five spot (I wonder how many times that has happened in the last 10 years). After an $8.3 million take last weekend, Life of Pi falls 35% to $5.4 million this weekend. It got two big Golden Globe nominations this week, Director and Picture, as it tries to hang on for the lucrative holiday season. Like Rise of the Guardians, Pi was expensive at $120 million, but once the large foreign gross is counted, Pi appears to better off than the animated kid flick. It has a gross so far of $70 million, and over $100 million from overseas venues.

Sixth is Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2. It earned $5.2 million and dropped a joyous 43%. It has now earned $276.9 million and will be gone soon.

Wreck-It Ralph is seventh and is seven weekends old. Ralph earned another $3.3 million and declined 33%. It matched its $165 million production budget with domestic sales this weekend, and the overseas grosses should help it find a profit. So far, the throwback has earned $168.8 million.

Eighth is the disaster that is Playing For Keeps; however, the lack of any sort of romantic comedies lately is keeping it somewhat afloat. The Gerard Butler release earned $3.2 million in its second weekend and dropped 44%. It has now earned $10.8 million.

Ninth is Red Dawn, which is only here because we’ve had just a handful of films released since Thanksgiving. Red Dawn earned $2.4 million and fell 43%. The FilmDistrict release has now earned $40.9 million.

Finally in tenth is Silver Linings Playbook, which also benefits from a solid awards season. Still at only 371 locations, Silver Linings Playbook earned $2.1 million this weekend on the back of its four Golden Globe nominations. It dropped 4% and has a gross so far of $17 million.

Overall, the box office is way up over last weekend’s $72 million disaster, and also does better than the same weekend last year. The top 12 films earned $131.1 million this weekend, which is better than last year’s $110.5 million, when Sherlock Holmes 2, Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 opened (Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol also debuted on 425 screens). Next weekend, things get all sorts of busy, all at once. Paramount releases three films: Jack Reacher, The Guilt Trip, and Cirque De Soleil: Worlds Away. Disney pulls out the 3D treatment of Monsters, Inc., and Universal serves up This Is 40.

Top Ten for Weekend of December 14-16, 2012
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross ($)	Weekly Change	Runing Total
1	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	Warner Bros.	84,775,000	New	84,775,000
2	Rise of the Guardians	Paramount Pictures	7,420,000	-29%	71,362,000
3	Lincoln	Walt Disney	7,244,000	-19%	107,898,000
4	Skyfall	Sony Pictures	7,000,000	-35%	272,366,000
5	Life of Pi	20th Century Fox	5,400,000	-35%	69,559,406
6	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2	Summit Entertainment	5,175,000	-43%	276,865,069
7	Wreck-It Ralph	Walt Disney	3,273,000	-33%	168,779,000
8	Playing for Keeps	FilmDistrict	3,247,000	-44%	10,838,092
9	Red Dawn	Open Road	2,394,000	-43%	40,889,423
10	The Silver Linings Playbook	Weinstein Co.	2,084,000	-4%	16,954,049
11	Flight	Paramount Pictures	1,940,000	-38%	89,448,000
12	Argo	Warner Bros.	1,145,000	-23%	104,930,000

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