Christmas Day at the box office is always a gift to the film industry, but yesterday, one studio got to unwrap an especially happy present. Universal’s ambitious adaptation of the beloved operetta Les Misèrables started off with a gross that was anything but miserable, earning a tremendous $18.2 million from 2,808 theaters on Christmas Day. That’s the second best Christmas opening ever behind only Sherlock Holmes, which earned $24.6 million on Christmas 2009 (which was a Friday). Overall, Les Mis achieved the fourth best Christmas Day gross ever. Only Sherlock Holmes, Avatar ($23.9 million on a Friday), and Meet the Fockers ($19.5 million on a Saturday) have done better on Dec. 25.