CinemaNerdz

Box Office Weekend: Frozen Gets Boost, But Smaug Still King Under the Mountain

Seth Paul
Box Office Weekend

NOTE: While the rest of the box office listings are the reported estimates, Paramount does not plan on releasing their official numbers until January 3rd. Therefore, films released by Paramount (such as Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues and The Wolf of Wall Street) have estimated domestic totals until further notice.

Third week remains the charm for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Though still far from the success of the Lord of the Rings series and even the previous The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, it has still performed very well here and abroad, scoring an estimated $29.9 million to make its domestic totals $190.3 million. Meanwhile, Frozen made a spectacular jump in revenue after six weeks, earning an estimated $28.8 million, beating out Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, which settled for an estimated $20.2 million. However, neither film has much to worry about, as both have handily exceeded their production costs and are more than likely to be major successes despite the heavy difference in budgets (Frozen’s $150 million to Anchorman 2’s $50 million).

American Hustle saw a minor upsurge, earning an estimated $19.6 million and proving itself a winner as well, as did Saving Mr. Banks, whose estimated $14 million put it in sixth and just ahead of its costs. However, other than eighth place finisher The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (estimated $10.2 million, and making a serious bid to topple Iron Man 3 as the top domestic earner of 2013), not much else managed to make back its money, and some are seriously in the red. Despite coming in fifth, The Wolf of Wall Street made an estimated $18.5 million for the weekend (and $34.3 million in domestic estimates thanks to a Christmas Day opening), but has a $100 million budget to make up.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty failed to impress most everyone, making an estimated $13 million weekend and $25.6 million domestic against a $90 million budget. While Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas hides behind an unreported budget, its $7.4 million estimate leading to a total of $43.7 million (probably enough to cover costs, but far from some of Perry’s previous efforts), the biggest disappointment has to be 47 Ronin. With abysmal reviews, an estimated $9.9 million weekend, and $20.6 million total (with little traffic in overseas ticket sales to compensate), its $200 million price tag might make it the most expensive flop of the year. Coming in the same year with such films as After Earth and The Lone Ranger, which did make their money back with international dollars, that is saying something.

Weekend Box Office (December 27th – December 29th)
  1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug…$29.8 million
  2. Frozen…$28.8 million
  3. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues…$20.2 million
  4. American Hustle…$19.6 million
  5. The Wolf of Wall Street…$18.5 million
  6. Saving Mr. Banks…$14 million
  7. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty…$13 million
  8. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire…$10.2 million
  9. 47 Ronin…$9.9 million
  10. Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas…$7.4 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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