For the third weekend in a row, the top three movies were the same three movies:

1. “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2”
2. “Skyfall”
3. “Lincoln”

One, two, three. All three weeks. Boom.

When was the last time that happened? When three movies finished 1-2-3 at the box office three weeks in a row?

A long time. Hell, it's rare these days when one movie finishes No. 1 three weekends in a row, let alone the next two not changing slots with any other movie.

Here. These are movies that in recent years topped the charts for at least three weeks. (Longer reigns are in parentheses.):

2012:

• “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2”
• “The Dark Knight Rises”
• “The Avengers”
• “The Hunger Games” (4)

2011:

• “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1”
• “The Help”

2010:

• “Inception”
• “Shrek Forever After”

2009:

• “Avatar” (7, into 2010)

You need a specific set of circumstances to make it work. The three movies have to have legs, and the new releases in weeks 2 and 3 have to be lame enough, or uninteresting enough, or nonexistent enough, not to unseat any of the three.

Last weekend, for example, these movies opened: “Rise of the Guardians,” Life of Pi,“ and ”Red Dawn.“ The first two came close to clipping ”Lincoln“ but not close enough. This weekend ”Killing Them Softly“ opened. Softly. It finished 7th. That's how ”Twilight,“ ”Skyfall“ and ”Lincoln“ have managed this.  

And the last time this kind of three-way/threepeat happened? At the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010, when ”Avatar“ reigned on top. For the last weekend of 2009, the Christmas weekend, both ”Sherlock Holmes“ and ”Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakel“ opened and finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively. The following weekend, the first of year, nothing new opened wide, as often happens with the first weekend of the year, and the top 3 stayed 1, 2, 3. The next weekend, ”Daybreakers,“ ”Leap Year,“ and ”Youth in Revolt“ opened wide, but finished 4th, 6th and 9th, respectively. The top three remained the same. That's three weekends.

It wasn't until the MLK Weekend when ”Book of Eli“ opened and ”Lovely Bones“ went wider that they displaced No.s 2 and 3. But ”Avatar“ remained on top for another four weekends—with shifting seconds and thirds below it. 

So it's been almost three years since this has happened.

The weekend's box-office numbers here.

I can tell you one thing: ”BDP2“ ain't grossing $700 million worldwide because of that poster.

UPDATE: I knew I should've waited until the actuals came in. At the 11:30th hour, ”Rise of the Guardians“ eclipsed ”Lincoln“ for third place. ”Lincoln" fell to fourth. Meaning the last time three movies were 1, 2, 3 at the domestic box office for three weeks in a row was still three years ago.