By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies remained a hard habit to break as it retained the top spot in weekend moviegoing, with an estimated $21.8 million. Christmas Day openers Into the Woods and Unbroken followed with $18.8 million and $18.3 million, respectively, and the session’s sole newcomer The Woman in Black: Angel of Death ranked fourth with $15 million.
Exclusive newcomers included 2014’s last awards contender A Most Violent Year, with a potent opening weekend of $165,000 at four venues and Chinese blockbuster The Taking of Tiger Mountain with a sturdy $50,800 from seven screens.
Box office revenues for the frame exceeded $155 million and ebbed from last weekend’s tally by 26%. It was 11% improved from 2014 when Frozen inched ahead of newcomer Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones with $19.6 million to $18.3 million.
Preliminary domestic figures for 2014 added up to $10.43 billion (actual will be available later in the week) and that represents a 5% decline from the prior annum. Admissions will take a 7% downturn in a year that generally had fewer misfires but whose “hits” didn’t quite reach anticipated heights. The biggest domestic grossers were Guardians of the Galaxy with $332.9 million and The Hunger Games: Mockinjay–Part 1 at $313.3 million through December 31. The global champ was Transformers: Age of Extinction at $1.08 billion, the sole title to attain a 10-figure gross in last year’s calendar period.
The coming weeks will be heavily weighted toward Oscar expansion, positioning with the stakes higher-than usual in a field with few frontrunners. Boyhood has generally been the critic’s favorite but forthcoming national releases of current limited exposures Selma and American Sniper are likely to benefit from kudos fatigue.
Another late season opener, Mr. Turner, appears to be gaining traction in major categories and the best actress field is wide open as a result of touted performances by Julianne Moore in Still Alice and Jennifer Aniston in Cake received only qualifying runs last year and critic’s fave Marion Cotillard’s role in Two Days, One Night is currently on only two screens.
Other likely beneficiaries of the Academy spotlight include The Imitation Game, Wild and The Theory of Everything.
| Weekend (estimates) December 26 – 28, 2014 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies | WB | 21.8 (5,620) | -47% | 3875 | 220.6 |
| Into the Woods | BV | 18.8 (7,420) | -39% | 2538 | 91 |
| Unbroken | Uni | 18.3 (5,750) | -40% | 3190 | 87.8 |
| The Woman in Black: Angel of Death | Relaivity | 15.0 (5,770) | NEW | 2602 | 15 |
| Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb | Fox | 14.6 (3,840) | -28% | 3802 | 89.9 |
| Annie | Sony | 11.7 (3,690) | -29% | 3166 | 72.8 |
| The Imitation Game | Weinstein/Elevation | 8.1 (10,780) | 2% | 754 | 30.8 |
| The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1 | Lionsgate | 7.7 (3,080) | -23% | 2505 | 323.9 |
| The Gambler | Par | 6.3 (2,540) | -31% | 2494 | 27.6 |
| Big Hero 6 | BV | 4.8 (2,500) | -4% | 1913 | 211.2 |
| Wild | Fox Searchlight | 4.6 (3,360) | -15% | 1361 | 25.9 |
| Exodus: Gods and Kings | Fox | 3.7 (1,630) | -45% | 2260 | 61.2 |
| The Penguins of Madagascar | Fox | 2.9 (1,820) | -11% | 1585 | 78.1 |
| Big Eyes | Weinstein Co. | 2.6 (1,840) | -14% | 1408 | 8.5 |
| Interstellar | Par | 2.4 (2,330) | -19% | 1048 | 182.7 |
| Top Five | Par | 2.2 (1,820) | -40% | 1195 | 23.8 |
| The Interview | Sony | 1.1 (1,940) | -37% | 581 | 4.9 |
| The Theory of Everything | Focus | 1.1 (1,670) | -9% | 651 | 24.8 |
| Horrible Bosses 2 | WB | .92 (1,380) | -37% | 667 | 53.1 |
| Foxcatcher | Sony Classics | .88 (2,950) | -6% | 298 | 7.9 |
| Birdman | Fox Searchlight | .84 (2,980) | 5% | 282 | 25.4 |
| P.K. | UTV | .72 (3,350) | -58% | 215 | 9.9 |
| Selma | Par | .65 (29,590) | 14% | 22 | 2.1 |
| American Sniper | WB | .64 (15,980) | 1% | 4 | 2.2 |
| Gone Girl | Fox | .39 (1,400) | -6% | 279 | 166.7 |
| Dumb and Dumber To | Uni | .31 (940) | -34% | 331 | 85.4 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $152.35 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 11% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -26% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Inherent Vice | WB | .24 (15,250) | 20% | 16 | 1.45 |
| Mr. Turner | Sony Classics | .22 (9.250) | -10% | 24 | 0.95 |
| Whiplash | Sony Classics | .20 (2,420) | 4% | 84 | 5.9 |
| St. Vincent | Weinstein Co. | .18 (450) | -38% | 402 | 43.2 |
| A Most Violent Year | A24 | .16 (41,180) | 4 | 0.27 | |
| The Babadook | IFC | 63,700 (1,380) | 3% | 46 | 0.73 |
| Ode to My Father | CJ | 44,900 (22,450) | 32% | 2 | 0.14 |
| The Taking of Tiger Mountain | Well Go | 50,800 (7,260) | 7 | 0.05 | |
| Leviathan | Sony Classics | 30,200 (10,070) | 89% | 3 | 0.08 |
| Two Days, One Night | IFC | 29,200 (14,600) | -2% | 2 | 0.11 |
| The Search for General Tso | IFC | 7,900 (7,900) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – Dec. 28, 2014) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| 20th Century Fox (21) | 1767.6 | 17.20% | |||
| Buena Vista (17) | 1594.7 | 15.50% | |||
| Warner Bros. (26) | 1533.2 | 14.90% | |||
| Sony (23) | 1238.9 | 12.00% | |||
| Universal (19) | 1091.1 | 10.60% | |||
| Paramount (17) | 1045.3 | 10.10% | |||
| Lionsgate (22) | 731.7 | 7.10% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (27) | 223 | 2.20% | |||
| Relativity (10) | 179 | 1.70% | |||
| Open Road (9) | 152.6 | 1.50% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (10) | 143.7 | 1.40% | |||
| Focus (11) | 118.7 | 1.10% | |||
| FreeStyle (10) | 104.3 | 1.00% | |||
| eOne/Seville (31) | 54.4 | 0.50% | |||
| Other * (346) | 326.8 | 3.20% | |||
| 10305 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | |||||
