Box Office: Skyfall the Biggest Bond of All-Time; Lincoln Looks Presidential

Box Office: Skyfall the Biggest Bond of All-Time; Lincoln Looks Presidential

by Joal Ryan Sun., Nov. 11, 2012 10:49 AM PST

Daniel Craig, Skyfall, Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Columbia; DreamWorks

Skyfall reigns.

The new James Bond adventure set a franchise record with a nearly $88 million domestic debut, per weekend box-office estimates, and vaulted toward the half-billion-dollar mark worldwide.

Only Steven Spielberg's Lincoln managed to secure any bragging rights over 007, with the Oscar candidate coming up big in limited release.

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Two weeks after bowing overseas, Skyfall now stands at $428.6 million overall. Its worldwide from the last three days alone was $177 million.

In these parts, the film destroyed the series' opening-weekend mark of $68 million held by 2008's Quantum of Solace. It looked especially big in IMAX, where it set a new mark for a non-summer opener, the company said.

A winner with critics, Daniel Craig's third Bond outing, after Quantum and 2006's Casino Royale, was graded an A in audience polling.

Since it began showing domestically Thursday in what were billed as sneak previews, Skyfall has taken in $90 million.

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Lincoln, meanwhile, looked about as big as it could on 11 screens, grossing $900,000. Its per-screen average of $81,818 was the weekend's best, blowing away even Skyfall's mammoth $25,050.

The film, featuring Daniel Day-Lewis' odds-on-favorite Best Actor performance, goes wide next weekend.

Elsewhere, Wreck-It Ralph and Denzel Washington's Flight both held well in their second weekends, while Ben Affleck's Argo continued to look strong in its fifth weekend.

A week after dropping out of the Top 10, the comedy Pitch Perfect was back in, climbing over the likes of Paranormal Activity 4 and Sinister.

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Here's the rundown of the weekend's top movies, per Friday-Sunday domestic estimates as reported by the studios and Exhibitor Relations: