The five-day US holiday session generated approximately $288m as the Twilight finale held on to rule them all with a $43.1m weekend. Meanwhile Skyfall became the first James Bond release to cross $200m in North America.

Box office is in rude health in autumn 2012 and produced a monster session at the box office to beat the previous record of $258.6m set in 2009, which when adjusted for inflation would translate into $278.8m by today’s standards.

Summit-Lionsgate’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 led the way and stands at $226.9m after two weekends, although currently it only ranks as the fourth biggest grossing entry in the five-film series and has a way to go before it overtakes Eclipse’s franchise record $300.5m.

Sony, MGM and Eon’s Skyfall added $36m to reach $221.7m and finally break the 49-year-old franchise’s $200m domestic duck.

Distributors unleashed their new releases on Nov 21 to allow the films to play for five days over the Thanksgiving holiday session. Paramount won this race-within-a-race as DreamWorks Animation’s Rise Of The Guardians arrived in fourth place on $24m over three days, rising to $32.6m over five.

Fox debuted Ang Lee’s mystical voyage and best picture contender Life Of Pi in fifth place on $22m rising to $30.2m. FilmDistrict’s Red Dawn remake opened seventh on $14.6m for $22m.

Awards heavyweight Argo will cross $100m within days and currently sits in tenth place on $98.1m, while DreamWorks’ Lincoln in third place has a good chance of surging over the threshold after vaulting to $62.2m after three weekends.

Paramount’s Flight will get close to $100m by the end of the year and could cross the barrier if it receives Oscar nominations in January. The Denzel Washington drama ranks eighth on $74.9m after four.

Fox Searchlight opened Hitchcock on $301,000 from 17 and SPC debuted Rust And Bone on $30,200 from two venues.

Next weekend’s wide releases are horror sequel The Collection through LD Entertainment and TWC’s Brad Pitt gangster film Killing Them Softly.

Estimated Top 10 North America Nov 23-25 2012
Film (Dist) / Est wkd gross / Est total to date

1 (1) The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (Summit-Lionsgate) Summit/Lionsgate Int’l $43.1m $226.9m

2 (2) Skyfall (Sony) SPRI/MGM $36m $221.7m

3 (3) Lincoln (DreamWorks-Buena Vista) WDSMPI $25m $62.2m

4 (-) Rise Of The Guardians (Paramount-DWKs Animation) PPI $24m $32.6m

5 (-) Life Of Pi (Fox) Fox Int’l $22m $30.2m

6 (4) Wreck-It Ralph (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $16.8m $149.5m

7 (-) Red Dawn (FilmDistrict) FilmNation $14.6m $22m
8 (5) Flight (Paramount) PPI-Sierra/Affinity $8.6m $74.9m

9 (17) Silver Linings Playbook (TWC) TWC Int’l $4.6m $6.5m

10 (6) Argo (Warner Bros) WBPI $3.9m $98.1m