Holiday Box Office: ‘Django’ Narrowly Beats ‘Les Mis’ on Friday; ‘Hobbit’ Still No. 1

In a surprise twist, The Weinstein Co.’s Django Unchained narrowly passed up Universal’s Les Miserables at the Friday box office to claim the No. 2 spot behind The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

The R-rated Django, from director Quentin Tarantino, grossed $9.7 million for a four-day domestic total of $43 million, while Tom Hooper’s Les Mis took in $9.4 million to place No. 3, and pushing its domestic total to $48.9 million. It’s the first time that Django,has beat Les Mis (both films opened Christmas Day).

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Hobbit grossed an estimated $10.7 million on Friday to jump the $200 million mark at the North American box office. The movie, with a domestic cume of $200.5 million, is expected to stay at No. 1 for the weekend with a projected $33 million haul. Hobbit hit $600 million in worldwide ticket sales on Friday as its international total reached $400 million.

In North America, Django and Les Mis will remain in a close race for the No. 2 spot. Box office observers have the two films grossing in the $27 million to $28 million range for the weekend.

Hollywood is hoping that the final weekend of 2012 is prosperous at the box office considering the holiday is still in full force, with New Year’s Day falling on a Tuesday this year.

Django, starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio, marks another win for Tarantino following box office hit Inglourious Basterds.

The film adaptation of the hit stage musical, Les Mis features an ensemble cast led by Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried. Les Mis has outperformed expectations at the North American box office, scoring the top opening day for a musical and the second-best Christmas Day opening of all time.

Les Mis has rolled out in its first eight markets overseas, grossing $4.4 million on Friday for a foreign total of $36.6 million and a worldwide total of $85.9 million. The pic will cross $100 million sometime on Friday.

Family comedy Parental Guidance held at No. 4 on Friday with an estimated $5.1 million, putting its four-day domestic total at $19.8 million. From 20th Century Fox, the movie — starring Billy Crystal, Bette Midler and Marisa Tomei — continues to exceed expectations.

Paramount’s Tom Cruise action-thriller Jack Reacher grossed $4.1 million on its second Friday to come in No. 5. The pic has now taken in $28.1 million.

Barbra Streisand–Seth Rogen comedy The Guilt Trip and Disney’s rerelease of Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. continued to struggle, grossing $2.3 million and $2.2 milllion, respectively. Guilt Trip’s domestic cume is $16.6 million, while Monsters, Inc. has only earned $14.4 million.

The specialty box office saw the debut of Matt Damon–John Krasinski drama Promised Land, which reunites Damon with Good Will Hunting director Gus Van Sant. From Focus Features, the movie debuted to a soft $53,000 from 25 locations on Friday, putting its location average at a sobering $2,120.

Beating Promised Land was Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, which continues to impress in its New York City and Los Angeles runs. The Sony movie earned $94,081 on Friday from five theaters for a location average of $18,816. Zero Dark Thirty expands nationwide on Jan. 11.