'Twilight' Vs. Brad Pitt: Who'll Kill At This Weekend's Box Office?
Not even Brad Pitt can beat out the vampires and werewolves of "Twilight."
"Breaking Dawn - Part 2" could very likely top the box office for a third consecutive weekend, battling for the #1 position with the biggest James Bond movie ever, "Skyfall." The weekend's new releases, including Pitt's latest, are expected to land softly.
Overall, the box office should be relatively ho-hum in terms of attendance, as studios prepare to roll out heavy hitters like "The Hobbit" later in December. Brad Pitt's mob movie "Killing Them Softly" and the horror flick "The Collection" won't have a chance against the holdovers that drove this year's [article id="1697872"]Thanksgiving holiday box office[/article] into the record books. Many industry forecasters gave this weekend to "Twilight," although Exhibitor Relations box-office analyst Jeff Bock gave a slight edge to Daniel Craig's third turn as 007.
" 'Twilight' will not go gentle into that good night," IMDb.com's Keith Simanton told MTV News. "I think it nabs $21 million as people who were out of town or prepping for Thanksgiving have time to catch up on the last installment."
"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" has made $230 million domestically thus far. Most estimates for this weekend's take fall between $15 and $20 million. "Skyfall" should be in that range as well, making the top spot a bit of a toss-up. Daniel Craig's third turn as Agent 007 has [article id="1697157"]made $227.2 million domestically[/article] after opening with more than $88 million.
[article id="1698161"]"Killing Them Softly"[/article] sees Pitt re-teaming with Andrew Dominik, who helmed the critically acclaimed but barely seen "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." "Although many of the producers cite the reason the film wasn't seen was simply because the title couldn't fit on marquees, it's undeniable the 2007 western was shot dead by audiences, grossing under $4 million," said Bock.
"Killing," which played at Cannes, has received equally strong reviews. It should debut with $10 to $12 million.
[article id="1698156"]"The Collection,"[/article] a sequel to 2009's "The Collector," will be lucky to do half the business of Pitt's project. The original made $7.7 million domestically. The guys who wrote "The Collection" wrote four of the "Saw" movies. "For what it's worth, the sequel brings back the original stars and creative team but also carries a budget of $10 million, versus the original's $3.5 million," Bock pointed out. "Once conceived as a prequel to 'Saw,' this should give you everything you need to know about LD's chill pill. Advertising has been pretty heavy for an indie release and, depending on the theater count, could carve out $3 to $4 million or so."
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