Weekend of November 13 – 15, 2009: Emmerich's action flick destroys everything!

Roland Emmerich’s apocalyptic action spectacle “2012” destroyed its competition at the North American box office this weekend with a solid $65 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Sony’s “2012” opened at 3,404 locations Friday and scored an explosive average of $19,095 per theater this weekend, easily beating the $35,8 million opening gross of Emmerich’s previous film “10,000 B.C.”

Starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt and Danny Glover, the action adventure follows a group of individuals trying to survive a series of cataclysms as the world is coming to an end.

“Pirate Radio,” this week’s only other wide release, only made it to No. 11 with $2.8 million from ticket sales at 882 locations. Directed by Richard Curtis, the comedy follows a group of pirate DJs broadcasting rock ‘n’ roll from a boat in the North Atlantic.

At No. 2, Disney’s “A Christmas Carol” scored another $22.3 million, lifting its early domestic total to $63.2 million. The Robert Zemeckis-directed 3D motion-capture adventure is currently playing at 3,683 locations.

Following at a distant No. 3 was “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” which took home $6.2 million. Starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor, the comedy directed by Grant Heslov brought its total haul to $23.3 million.

Delivering a huge surprise this weekend at No. 4 was “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” which bagged an impressive $6 million from ticket sales at only 174 locations.

Meanwhile, Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” collected $5.1 million at No. 5, reaching a cumulative gross of $68.2 million. Following in sixth place with $4.7 million was “The Fourth Kind,” which brought its total haul to $20.5 million.

Staying put in seventh place this weekend as “Couples Retreat,” which reached a total gross of $102.1 million after earnings of $4.2 million. Still doing well at No. 8 was “Paranormal Activity,” which earned $4.2 for a cume of $103.8 million.

At the bottom of the top 10, “Law Abiding Citizen” generated $3.9 million for a $76.3 million total, while Richard Kelly’s “The Box” took a big dive and ended up with $3.1 million ($13.2 million total gross) at No. 10.

Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)