Though it beat The
Hobbit on Friday night, Anchorman 2 came in second with a solid
$26 million for a $40 million total to date, which is exactly
what was projected for the comedy sequel.  The Hobbit, once again no surprise, came in at No.
1 with David O. Russell’s American Hustle coming in fourth, with a solid $19 million nationwide opening.

Disney’s
Saving Mr. Banks was something of a letdown, and A Madea Christmas dropped almost 50%
from last weekend. With $28 million
to date. Unless it does gangbuster business over the Xmas to New Year’s Day week,
it will be the lowest grossing Madea film ever for Tyler Perry, bringing up again the question of if his loyal audience is finally getting bored with the character.

Just a few days ago, a friend of mine told me that his
mother, who has been a loyal fan of Perry’s movies, but hadn’t bothered to see
his latest stuff, refused to see Madea Christmas, saying to him (and this is a direct
quote) that “I’m so tired of seeing him wearing a dress.“

Has he jumped the
shark?

But the most interesting box office news this weekend is that
the Indian film Dhoom 3 opened with
just over $3.3 million, which is the
biggest opening ever for a Bollywood film
in North America.

Furthermore, the three hour film is only playing on just 236 screens, with a $14,000 per screen average, giving it,  far and away  the highest per screen average of any movie
currently. The action adventure film (which was partially shot in Chicago) not only, of course, was a box
office smash in India this weekend, it raked in almost $30 million worldwide.

Even in Pakistan,
where the government is trying to crackdown on Indian films, Dhoom 3 broke the
opening day gross for any film ever.

So you want to see it don’t you? Well take a look at the
trailer at the bottom of the article. Chicagoans will no doubt recognize some
very familiar locations such as City Hall, Millennium Park. Michigan Ave and
Lower Wacker Drive.)