By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
The final installment The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies not unexpectedly led weekend viewing with an estimated $55.9 million. Two other new releases slugged it out for the bridesmaid slot with Night at the Museum: The Secret of the Tomb slight ahead of the contemporary Annie with $16.9 million to $16.1 million respectively.
Session box office chimed in just shy of $140 million and an upward bump of 64% from the prior weekend. Still, it was five percent behind the 2013 frame was the second weekend of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug edged out Anchorman 2 with, respectively $31.5 million to $26.2 million.
There was also good news for the Hindi P.K. – a Being There variant – starring superstar Aamir Khan with a $3.2 million tally at 272 locations. And exclusive newcomers included the Japanese anime Song of the Sea with $21,200 at two venues as well as a strong start for Oscar contender Mr. Turner that grossed $106,000 from five playdates.
Domestic revenues are expected to exceed $10 billion on Tuesday as compared to last year when that level was reached 18 days earlier on December 5. Through Sunday North American box office was 5% behind the comparable pace set last year.
The Battle of the Five Armies lived up to commercial expectations with a strong opening weekend and a $90 million-plus cume from its Wednesday domestic debut. It was a slightly better comparative start to the prior filmic chapter. The film opened a week earlier in 36 international territories with an excellent $117 million result. With current foreign results added The Hobbit finale has a $350 million global gross.
Studio exit polling had the audience composed 60% male with a comparable 60% aged 25-years and older. It was also the best IMAX result for any Hobbit with $7.7 million and 3D engagements accounted for 48% of the box office.
Critical response for the third Night at the Museum outing tilted toward the withering and its box office came short of tracking predictions that ranged from $22 million to $25 million. The opening crowd tilted slightly male at 51% with 54% aged 25-years and younger indicating that the new edition is finding its strongest support from families.
Museum 3 opened day-and-date in 28 foreign markets and generated close to $11 million. Its major market bows the U.K. grossed $2.9 million and Germany provided $2.1 million.
Expectations were considerably more modest for Annie, with predictions setting its bar between $13-$15 million. There was a giant question mark hovering over the choice to push the story forward from the Depression to modern-day Manhattan. But the gamble got a promising start with studio demos indicating 76% of opening weekend was attended by families. The big hurdle ahead is to make the picture work for an international audience.
Expansions for Wild, Top Five and Foxcatcher this weekend were blunted by the arrival of three major releases prompting this pundit to wonder why a more traditional January roll-out was considered too late for award consideration.
Weekend (estimates) December 19 – 21, 2014 | |||||
Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies | WB | 55.9 (14,420) | NEW | 3875 | 90.3 |
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb | Fox | 16.8 (4,430) | NEW | 3785 | 16.8 |
Annie | Sony | 16.1 (5,150) | NEW | 3116 | 16.1 |
Exodus: Gods and Kings | Fox | 7.9 (2,260) | -67% | 3503 | 38.8 |
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 | Lionsgate | 7.7 (2,430) | -39% | 3174 | 289.2 |
Wild | Fox Searchlight | 4.1 (3,850) | 166% | 1061 | 7.1 |
Big Hero 6 | BV | 3.6 (1,490) | -41% | 2407 | 190.5 |
Top Five | Par | 3.6 (2,720) | -48% | 1307 | 12.4 |
The Penguins of Madagascar | Fox | 3.5 (1,290) | -51% | 2717 | 64.2 |
P.K. | UTV | 3.2 (11,650) | NEW | 272 | 3.2 |
Interstellar | Par | 2.6 (1,690) | -52% | 1550 | 171.5 |
Horrible Bosses 2 | WB | 2.2 (1,170) | -52% | 1902 | 47.8 |
The Theory of Everything | Focus | 1.6 (1,550) | -36% | 1011 | 19.8 |
Foxcatcher | Sony Classics | .94 (3,060) | 159% | 307 | 4.4 |
Birdman | Fox Searchlight | .91 (2,010) | -31% | 452 | 22.3 |
The Imitation Game | Weinstein/Remstar | .88 (25,880) | 4% | 34 | 3.2 |
Dumb and Dumber 2 | Uni | .77 (780) | -72% | 986 | 83.7 |
Gone Girl | Fox | .38 (1.080) | -63% | 352 | 165.2 |
St. Vincent | Weinstein Co. | .22 (550) | -68% | 404 | 42.4 |
Whiplash | Sony Classics | .19 (1,730) | -24% | 111 | 5.1 |
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible … Day | BV | .18 (700) | 28% | 261 | 64.8 |
The Homesman | Roadside Attractions | .17 (1,040) | -55% | 166 | 2 |
Fury | Sony | .16 (680) | -73% | 238 | 84.7 |
Inherent Vice | WB | .15 (29,400) | -55% | 5 | 0.6 |
Nightcrawler | Open Road/Elevation | .14 (930) | -76% | 153 | 31.5 |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $132.30 | ||||
% Change (Last Year) | -5% | ||||
% Change (Last Week) | 64% | ||||
Also debuting/expanding | |||||
Mr. Turner | Sony Classics | .11 (21,300) | 5 | 0.11 | |
Back in Time | China Lion | 94,700 (4,980) | -54% | 19 | 0.43 |
The Babadook | IFC | 91,200 (1,150) | -32% | 79 | 0.47 |
Les Maitres du suspense | Seville | 85,300 (1,520) | 56 | 0.11 | |
Citizenfour | Weinstein Co, | 55,700 (1,070) | -49% | 52 | 2 |
Force Majeur | Magnolia | 38,300 (980) | -41% | 39 | 1 |
Song of the Sea | Gkids | 21,200 (10,600) | 2 | 0.02 | |
Winter Sleep | Adopt | 6,100 (6,100) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – Dec. 18, 2014) | |||||
Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
20th Century Fox (20) | 1678.9 | 17.10% | |||
Buena Vista (16) | 1534.4 | 15.70% | |||
Warner Bros. (25) | 1392.6 | 14.20% | |||
Sony (21) | 1189.5 | 12.10% | |||
Universal (18) | 1043.1 | 10.60% | |||
Paramount (15) | 1011.4 | 10.30% | |||
Lionsgate (22) | 706.1 | 7.20% | |||
Weinstein Co. (26) | 207.2 | 2.10% | |||
Relativity (10) | 178.8 | 1.80% | |||
Open Road (9) | 152.2 | 1.50% | |||
Fox Searchlight (10) | 128.1 | 1.30% | |||
Focus (11) | 114.5 | 1.20% | |||
FreeStyle (10) | 104.3 | 1.10% | |||
eOne/Seville (30) | 54.5 | 0.60% | |||
Other * (339) | 310.4 | 3.20% | |||
9806 | 100% | ||||
* none greater than 0.4% | |||||
Top Global Grossers (Jan. 1 – Dec. 18, 2014) * | |||||
Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
Transformers: Age of Extinction | Par | 1,083,817,908 | |||
Guardians of the Galaxy | BV | 772,847,956 | |||
Maleficent | BV | 757,608,511 | |||
X-Men: Days of Future Past | Fox | 746,224,744 | |||
Frozen * | BV | 724,322,158 | |||
Captain America: The Winter Soldier | BV | 713,778,940 | |||
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | Sony | 709,012,447 | |||
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Fox | 708,272,420 | |||
Interstellar | Par; WB | 625,877,989 | |||
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 | Lionsgate | 624,545,244 | |||
How to Train Your Dragon 2 | Fox | 619,891,729 | |||
Godzilla | WB; Toho | 523,345,942 | |||
Rio 2 | Fox | 498,781,117 | |||
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Par; MGM | 478,382,017 | |||
The Lego Movie | WB | 472,173,863 | |||
Lucy | Uni; Europa | 462,126,598 | |||
Edge of Tomorrow | WB | 368,667,083 | |||
Noah | Par | 362,164,780 | |||
The Wolf of Wall Street * | Par; Red Granite | 350,418,304 | |||
Gone Girl | Fox | 345,348,943 | |||
The Maze Runner | Fox | 339,422,634 | |||
300: Rise of an Empire | WB | 331,624,640 | |||
22 Jump Street | Sony | 331,392,898 | |||
The Fault in Our Stars | Fox | 304,266,689 | |||
Divergent | Lionsgate | 289,044,408 | |||
* does not include 2013 box office |