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The last of three Christmas Day debuts is Parental Guidance. It is either the one that stars Bette Midler or the one that stars Barbra Streisand. I cannot be bothered to figure out which. These are two of the Five People I Will Meet in Hell. The fact that they keep getting cast in movies simply means that there are a couple of movies each year that I can skip for my sanity, ones that do not have the word “Twilight” in the title. Anyway, Parental Guidance debuts to $6.5 million, which Billy Crystal probably believes to be a really good number because it would have been back in the City Slickers days. We should be respectful of our elders so let’s allow him his delusion.

The final title in the top five yesterday was Jack Reacher. Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher is apparently nowhere near as interesting as Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. After five days in theaters, Jack Reacher has managed only $23.3 million with $5.3 million of that coming on Christmas Day. Consider that Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol earned $16.5 million during its first five days in theaters…and it was an IMAX exclusive during this time frame. Jack Reacher has 3,352 exhibitions compared to 425 for MI4 yet the factor of eight more play dates is only creating 41% more box office revenue. That’s brutal.

I fear that timing has hurt Jack Reacher. Given the tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut, this is not the best time to be marketing a sharpshooter as a protagonist. Yes, Django Unchained is similarly violent but as a period piece, there is some leeway given that Jack Reacher does not get. Whatever the case, Jack Reacher was made for a frugal $60 million so it should be no worse than a box office draw by the time it exits theaters.

Sixth and seventh place go to This Is 40 and The Guilt Trip. Both of these titles obviously skew older than most Hollywood fare so they are still in wait and see mode. This Is 40 grossed $4.5 million on Christmas, thereby boosting its overall total to $17.5 million. The Guilt Trip only attained $2.5 million, giving it a too-modest running total of $11 million. Seth Rogen had to tolerate Barbra Streisand for months on end and all he gets out of it is a box office bomb.

The rest of the top ten on Christmas Day were all older releases. Lincoln grossed another $2.3 million to bring its domestic total to $120.3 million. This is one of Spielberg’s biggest non-action hits ever. The 3D re-release of Monsters, Inc. grossed $1.5 million to give it a running total of $8.5 million. This is probably not even 10% of what Monsters, Inc. toy sales were this week. I know that I bought a stuffed monster for a loved one. Finally, Skyfall grossed $1.4 million to push its Best. Bond. Ever. total to $282.5 million. I think that it will get close to $300 million but it will fall just short of the mark.

Tomorrow’s box office should decline some but not a lot as most consumers use vacation the day after Christmas as well. Check back in 24 hours for a more detailed examination of a couple of specific films.

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