Working Title’s awards contender on Sunday [6] became the fastest musical to pass the milestone in North America after grossing $16.1m through Universal to reach $103.6m.

Lionsgate’s horror remix Texas Chainsaw 3D topped the charts thanks to an estimated $23m debut that knocked The Hobbit off its perch and into third place.

Weekend box office for the top 12 amounted to #126.3m, which marked a 22.(% drop against the powerhouse final weekend of 2012 but came in at almost exactly the same as the first session of 2012.

TWC’s Django Unchained held firm in second place and also crossed $100m in its second weekend as $20.1m boosted the score to $106.4m.

New Line/MGM/Warner Bros’ The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey now ranks third on $263.8m after four weekends.

DreamWorks’ Lincoln in eighth place is headed for $150m and stands at $143.9m after nine weekends through Buena Vista.

Focus Features’ Promised Land broke into the top ten after expanding in its second weekend from 25 theatres to 1,676 theatres. The drama stars Matt Damon and ranks tenth on $4.7m.

Life Of Pi ranks 14th and crossed the $300m international mark over the weekend and is drawing closer to the $400m worldwide milestone as the North American tally nears $100m. It added $2.9m in its seventh weekend for $91.1m.

Silver Linings Playbook held firm at number 12 and grossed $3.6m for $34.7m through TWC after eight weeks. The film is active in 745 theatres.

Annapurna Pictures’ Zero Dark Thirty is building steadily through US distributor Sony Pictures and added $2.8m after expanding from five theatres to 60 in its fifth weekend. Kathryn Bigelow’s hunt-for-bin Laden thriller ranks 16th on $4.5m.

Amour, voted best film of the year on Saturday [5] by the National Society of Film Critics, grossed $63,600 from three sites in its third weekend through SPC for a mighty $21,200 per-site average. The running total is $315,000.

Next weekend’s wide releases are Warner Bros’ crime drama Gangster Squad starring Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin and Emma Stone and Marlon Wayans’ comedy A Haunted House through Open Road Films.

Estimated Top 10 North America Jan 4-6 2012
Film (Dist) / Est wkd gross / Est total to date

1 (-) Texas Chainsaw 3D (Lionsgate) Lionsgate International $23m –

2 (2) Django Unchained (TWC) Sony Pictures Releasing International $20.1m $106.4m

3 (1) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Warner Bros/New Line/MGM) WBPI $17.5m $263.8m

4 (3) Les Misérables (Universal/Working Title) UPI $16.1m $103.6m

5 (4) Parental Guidance (Fox) Fox International $10.1m $52.8m

6 (5) Jack Reacher (Paramount) PPI $9.3m $64.8m

7 (6) This Is 40 (Universal) UPI $8.6m $54.5m

8 (7) Lincoln (Dwks-Buena Vista) Fox Int’l $5.3m $143.9m

9 (8) The Guilt Trip (Paramount) PPI $4.5m $31.2m

10 (-) Promised Land (Focus Features) FFI $4.3m $4.7m