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Posted January 4, 2015 by Seth Paul in News
 
 

Box Office Weekend: Hobbit On Top for a Third Time


The numbers have spoken, and The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies is still the lowest earning of the Peter Jackson Middle Earth films…still, when the lowest earner remained in first at the box office for the third week in a row, picked up an estimated $21.9 million, and has earned $220.8 million in domestic box office alone, it is not a particularly bad track record. However, 2015 is off to a rough start when the only new release, The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death, opened to fourth and an estimated $15.1 million, with second and third going to Into the Woods and Unbroken, with respective estimates of $19.1 million and $18.4 million. Both films had rough beginnings, but have had decent holiday week earnings which have led to both making solid gains over their budgets with some good distance still left to go towards decent profits.

The Hobbit: The Battle of Five ArmiesA Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb was one of the few films to not benefit from the New Year week, earning an estimated $14.5 million and remaining underwater domestically (though buffered by decent overseas sales). Annie, on the other hand, proved a winner after all despite critics, an estimated $11.4 million enough to give the film a good boost against its budget. The Imitation Game became a strong contender for the Weinstein company as well, an estimated $8.1 million making it the third highest grossing film released by the studio in 2014.

Amazingly, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, which looked last week to be slowing down, picked up steam through the holidays and, with an additional estimated $7.7 million, could just manage to topple Guardians of the Galaxy as highest domestic grosser of 2014. It is a feat unlikely to be accomplished by The Gambler (estimated $6.3 million), which just about made back its budget in earnings, and Big Hero 6 (estimated $4.8 million) whose $211.3 million earnings was an impressive bid and put it into the top ten of the year, but still short by a wide divide.

Weekend Box Office (January 2nd – January 4th)

  1. The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies…$21.9 million
  2. Into the Woods…$19.1 million
  3. Unbroken…$18.4 million
  4. The Woman in Black 2: The Angel of Death…$15.1 million
  5. A Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb…$14.5 million
  6. Annie…$11.4 million
  7. The Imitation Game…$8.1 million
  8. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1…$7.7 million
  9. The Gambler…$6.3 million
  10. Big Hero 6…$4.8 million
Seth Paul

Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."