By Monique
The box office battle has been a little crazy with all of the ridiculosity that is The Interview. But guess what? The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies has owned the box office proper!
The film has now earned more than $350 million since its Tuesday night release. Some snippets from the press release:
Beginning with sold-out preview screenings in the U.S., the film has earned $90.63 million domestically. “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” also expanded across the majority of international markets, taking in $105.5 million over the weekend. The international total stands at $265 million and counting.
Internationally, opening day showings for “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” were sold out, some weeks in advance, and thousands of fans waited in line to journey to Middle-earth one last time. The film enjoyed the biggest opening day of year in a number of key markets, including Germany, Scandinavia and the director’s home country of New Zealand, where it had the widest release ever in that country. The film also became the biggest Warner Bros. opening in Russia, Serbia and Ukraine, and shot to #1 in Brazil and Mexico, where it went up against the final match of the Mexican Soccer League. “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” also broke records for the biggest opening of all time in Sweden, Finland, Croatia and Czech Republic; and the biggest opening of the year in Spain, Germany, Russia, Holland, Switzerland, Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia. The film is yet to open in a number of markets, including China onJanuary 23, as well as Australia, Argentina, Iceland and Uruguay, as well as Poland and other Eastern European territories.
Additionally, the film set records in IMAX®, taking in $13.62 million on 360 domestic screens, marking the biggest December opening and the biggest opening for “The Hobbit” Trilogy. Internationally, the weekend total was $6.5 million on 217 IMAX screens for an international total of more than $15 million to date, including the biggest IMAX opening of all time in the UK, Germany and Austria.
Toby Emmerich, President and Chief Operating Officer, New Line Cinema, said in a statement, “For Peter Jackson, the adventure that began with his benchmark ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy has reached a high water mark with this incredible response to the epic finale of ‘The Hobbit’ Trilogy. Along with our colleagues at Warner Bros. and MGM, we congratulate Peter on this exciting conclusion to his 16-year endeavor to bring this enduring saga to life for millions of moviegoers all over the world.”
There were several other statements from department heads to go along with Emmerich’s. Sue Kroll, President of Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures, stated, “We are very proud to have accompanied Peter Jackson and his remarkable team of collaborators on his hugely successful cinematic journey. The positive response of both critics and audiences to this final film in ‘The Hobbit’ Trilogy is a tribute to the talents of everyone who dedicated years to bringing these ambitious films to fruition, and we applaud them all on this tremendous success.”
Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures, stated, “This is an extraordinary start for our final adventure in Middle-earth. We are excited by the enthusiasm of moviegoers, who have already made ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ a blockbuster, and this is just the beginning. We expect word of mouth to continue to drive the box office through the holiday season and well into the new year.”
Finally, Kwan Vandenberg Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures., said, “This is a timeless story that speaks to audiences all over the world, and the anticipation for the Trilogy’s electrifying finale has yielded tremendous results. Everywhere it’s opened, the film has seen huge debuts, strong holds and amazing buzz, and the momentum will only build as we move into 2015.”
On the other end of the spectrum, “Exodus: Gods and Kings” has severely dropped off the map. The film went from Number 1 to Number 5 within the span of a week.
I’d been following this news for a while, as you can read here. But it’s gotten even better. And by “better,” I mean “worse” as far as the box office returns go. Forbes’ Scott Mendelson wrote that Exodus: Gods and Kings dropped 74 percent from last Friday, Dec. 19. Last Friday, the film’s opening weekend, it’d only grossed $8.8 million and throughout the full weekend, it only raked in $24 million. Now, though, as Mendelson points out, the film will only make another $8 million this weekend, meaning a 67 percent drop. “…[T]here were no legs to be found and audiences stayed relatively far away,” Mendelson wrote. “The 20th Century Fox film has $33.1m thus far…In terms of domestic box office, this one will be lucky to get to $65m, and that’s accounting for Christmas pick-up for the religious picture.” Of course, there’s till the overseas gross to take into account, which, at the time of Mendelson’s writing, had reached $54 million. But for all intents and purposes, the film is a $140 million dud.
What do you think about these films? Give your opinions below!
Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Julian 