Battle of the Five Armies Holds On to First
Warner Bros. Entertainment’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies took in $21.73 million last weekend to lead the weekend box office for a third consecutive week. The third and final installment of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy was down a significant 47 percent from the previous weekend. All previous Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films have experienced declines in the 40 percent to 49 percent range the weekend after New Year’s and that trend held up for The Battle of the Five Armies. The film surpassed the $200 million domestic mark last weekend and has grossed $220.60 million in 19 days. That places The Battle of the Five Armies 9.5 percent ahead of the $201.54 million 19-day take of last year’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and 7 percent behind the $238.00 million 19-day gross of 2012’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Disney Entertainment’s Into the Woods remained in second place last weekend with $18.73 million. The modestly budgeted Rob Marshall directed musical featuring Meryl Streep was down 40 percent from the previous weekend. Into the Woods has grossed a strong $90.87 million in 11 days. Into the Woods continued to run neck and neck with Universal Pictures’ Unbroken last weekend and total grosses for the two films are separated by just $3.22 million thus far.
Unbroken placed in third with $18.17 million. The Angelina Jolie directed war drama was down a respectable 41 percent from the previous weekend. While Unbroken has shown some relative front-loading thus far, in the bigger picture the film has grossed a significantly stronger than expected $87.65 million in 11 days thanks in part to its very strong Christmas weekend start.
The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death debuted in fourth place with a surprisingly strong $15.03 million start. The PG-13 rated horror sequel from Relativity Media exceeded expectations, which had been muted in part from soft pre-release online activity heading into the weekend. The film’s debut was especially good news for Relativity given that the film was an inexpensive acquisition for the distributor. Early January is historically a good time to release horror films and that certainty was the case for The Woman in Black 2. The film opened 28 percent below the $20.87 million start of 2012’s The Woman in Black, which was quite respectable given that The Woman in Black 2 doesn’t feature Daniel Radcliffe.
Twentieth Century Fox’s Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb claimed fifth place with $14.52 million. The third installment of the Ben Stiller led franchise continued to display impressive holding power as it was down just 28 percent from the previous weekend. Secret of the Tomb has grossed $89.85 million in 17 days.
Annie placed in sixth with $11.25 million. Sony Pictures’ musical remake starring Quvenzhané Wallis, Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz also held up nicely last weekend as it fell 32 percent from the previous weekend. Annie has grossed a very solid $72.46 million in 17 days.
The Imitation Game continued to impress in moderate release with a seventh place take of $7.77 million from 754 locations. That gave the awards season hopeful from The Weinstein Co. a per-location average of $10,308 for the frame, which easily represented the weekend’s strongest location average for films in the top 10. The Imitation Game has grossed $30.47 million to date and appears to be in great shape for a lengthy box office run, especially when considering it was down only 2 percent from the previous weekend without the aid of a major expansion last weekend.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 finished in eighth with $7.56 million. The third installment of Lionsgate Entertainment’s blockbuster franchise was down a very healthy 25 percent from the previous weekend. Mockingjay – Part 1 is currently the second highest grossing release of 2014 domestically with a 45-day take of $323.73 million. That leaves the film just $9.32 million away from the current $333.06 million total gross of Guardians of the Galaxy.
This Week | Last Week | Movie | Weekend Gross | Cumulative Gross | Weeks |
1 | 1 | The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies | $21.73M | $220.60M | 3 |
2 | 2 | Into the Woods | $18.73M | $90.87M | 2 |
3 | 3 | Unbroken | $18.17M | $87.65M | 2 |
4 | N/A | The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death | $15.03M | $15.03M | 1 |
5 | 4 | Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb | $14.52M | $89.85M | 3 |
6 | 5 | Annie | $11,25M | $72.46M | 3 |
7 | 8 | The Imitation Game | $7.77M | $30.47M | 6 |
8 | 6 | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 | $7.56M | $323.73M | 7 |
9 | 7 | The Gambler | $6.33M | $27.60M | 2 |
10 | 11 | Big Hero 6 | $4.75M | $211.21M | 9 |
Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.