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Most musicals count their blessings if they reach $60 million. Les Miserables will earn that much during its first week, which will be enough to place it within $9 million of the all-time top ten for musicals. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (now there is a re-make that needs to get done) currently holds down that spot at $69.7 million. Les Mis appears to be headed toward $100 million (or at least close to it), which is rarefied air for the genre…and usually indicative of a solid awards contender.

The other two Christmas Day openers stabilized yesterday. Django Unchained declined a solid 17% to $8.3 million, bringing its total domestic revenue to $33.3 million after three days. Parental Guidance, the one with Bette Midler, effectively matched its Wednesday total. $4.1 million on Thursday is a decline of only 4% from the prior day’s $4.3 million. It has now accumulated $14.8 million in three days.

Daily stability is a staple of this particular calendar configuration. Many consumers are on vacation the entire week, which means Friday-like weekdays on Wednesday and Thursday. To wit, Jack Reacher, This Is 40 and Lincoln all fell less than 10% yesterday. Jack Reacher had the “worst” drop of 7% to $3.6 million. This Is 40 fell 5% to $3.1 million. And Lincoln came within a few thousand of duplicating its Wednesday total with another $2.1 million. These are the films that dropped.

The other three titles in the top ten all gained from Wednesday to Thursday. The re-release of Monsters, Inc. sneaked up to eighth place thanks to a 17% gain to $1.9 million. The movie has earned almost half of its current re-release total of $12.1 million over the past four days. The Guilt Trip, the one with Barbra Streisand, duplicated its Wednesday total of $1.7 million. If estimates hold, it earned a few thousand more yesterday than the day before.

Finally, Rise of the Guardians is up 33% in two days. After earning $1.2 million Christmas Day and $1.4 million on Wednesday, it finished with $1.6 million on Thursday. At this current rate of gaining $200k per day, it will break the single day box office record of $91.1 million in 448 days. Yes, I was goofy enough to do that calculation. Rise of the Guardians has now earned $85.5 million. We should know by the end of next week whether it can edge past $100 million.

Combined revenue for the top ten yesterday was $45.8 million. This is a drop of 12% from Wednesday’s $51.9 million. To reinforce how lucrative the holiday period is, consider this. The past three days of revenue, a Tuesday through Thursday, have combined revenue of $166.1 million. This would be one of the 11 best weekends of the year were it, you know, a weekend. And yes, I researched this as well. Now is a good time to mention that my wife is out of town. I get bored.

Tim Briody and John Hamann will take the next two updates so I will speak to you again on Monday. You’re in the best hands until then.

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