CinemaNerdz

Box Office Weekend: The Hobbit Rides Desolation to the Top, But Not On the Wave It Wanted

Seth Paul
Box Office Weekend

While receiving mostly positive acclaim from critics and filmgoers alike, the second film in Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth trilogy, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, earned an estimated $73.7 million in its weekend debut at the box office. While head and shoulders above the rest of its weekly competition, it did not come even close to the success of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (which took fourth with an estimated $13.2 million), nor even the domestic opening week of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey from last year. With an unreported budget, that does not bode well for the film’s investors, despite the inevitability of the third film’s release next year.

Frozen, in the meantime, has been doing solid, if not spectacular business for four weeks, landing in second with an estimated $22.2 million and making a domestic profit. Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas, on the other hand, opened to a decent estimate of $16 million, but with poor reviews it does not stand to climb very far up the Tyler Perry success ladder.

From fifth place on down, weekend revenue dropped sharply. Thor: The Dark World pulled in an estimated $2.7 million, leaving Marvel Studios with another sturdy (if not truly Marvel-ous) success, while Out of the Furnace continues to flop with an estimated $2.3 million. Delivery Man managed to wring out a successful stint at the box office as its estimated $1.9 million gave the Vince Vaughan comedy at least something to smile about ($28 million against a $26 million budget).

Finally, two examples of Oscar bait quietly held on while another goes out with a whimper. Philomena held on as best of the rest with an estimated $1.8 million, The Book Thief held out for an estimated $1.7 million, and Homefront, the only one of the three with a reported budget, stands to be a minor flop as its estimated $1.6 million still is not enough to make back its $22 million in costs.

Weekend Box Office (December 13th – December 15th)
  1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug…$73.7 million
  2. Frozen…$22.2 million
  3. Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas…$16 million
  4. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire…$13.2 million
  5. Thor: The Dark World…$2.7 million
  6. Out of the Furnace…$2.3 million
  7. Delivery Man…$1.9 million
  8. Philomena…$1.8 million
  9. The Book Thief…$1.7 million
  10. Homefront…$1.6 million

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."
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