Movie Monday: Breaking Muppets

Is there a better way to work off that tryptophan trough than a good family-friendly movie? Well, probably, but don’t tell studio execs that.

The Thanksgiving weekend box office was deluged with quality PG-rated films this weekend—from The Muppets to Hugo to Arthur Christmas. All earned scads of critical accolades and drew their share of fans. But they all still fell short of knocking off November’s cinematic colossus The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1.

Breaking Dawn collected another estimated $62.3 million over the elongated 5-day Thanksgiving weekend, with $42 million of that coming in the standard Friday-to-Sunday frame. The film’s slightly off the pace set by the series’ previous installment, New Moon, but the folks over at Summit Entertainment probably don’t mind too much. Let’s face it: $221 million over two weeks is a tidy little take no matter the measuring stick.

Despite finishing second to Breaking Dawn, the Muppets aren’t shaking their colorful foam heads in dismay. In fact, they made it look easy to get green—gobbling up $29.5 million over the three-day weekend. The movie’s $42 million gross so far is, incidentally, more than any Muppet-centric movie has garnered since the very first one (1979’s The Muppet Movie earned $65 million). By next weekend, it’ll likely become the most successful film ever to star a frog and a pig.

Perhaps suffering the glut of kid-friendly movies at theaters, Arthur Christmas and Hugo both stumbled a bit. Christmas—a charming little holiday story—earned $12.7 million over the three-day weekend, which wasn’t even enough to push Happy Feet Two ($13.4 million) out of third place. Hugo, Martin Scorcese’s dreamy 3-D tale, rounded out the Top 5 with a disappointing $11.4 million. But the film, which is already being touted as a potential Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, could have some staying power.

All told, four of the week’s Top 5 films were made with an eye toward family viewing. And, with Thanksgiving still fresh in our minds, perhaps that’s one last thing to be thankful for.