Weekend box office: The Hobbit, Museum and Annie all do well

Brad Sturdivant December 21st, 2014

It was a nice 1-2-3 punch at the weekend box office as all of the new movies managed to finish in the top three and all of them opened very nicely. Leading the way is THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF FIVE ARMIES, which opened on Wednesday and has grossed about $86 million in its five day opening. It depends on how you look at it, but that $86 million is the best opening for a Hobbit movie yet. Coming in second is NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB, which has been trashed by critics, but it seems people still love their Museum movies. Rounding out the top three is ANNIE, which finished close behind Museum for third place. Although it had a limited release earlier in December, THE WILD had a wide release this weekend and it also did pretty well, taking in about $4m. That doesn’t seem like much compared to The Hobbit, but it’s not bad for a smaller film.

Next week is the treasured Christmas weekend and will feature Angelina Jolie’s UNBROKEN, which is fantastic, so much so that I’m confused by the lack of award recognition. We also get INTO THE WOODS, which should draw a crowd, but I think only fans of the musical will appreciate it. Mark Wahlberg’s THE GAMBLER is coming out next weekend as well, which probably isn’t the Oscar favorite Wahlberg was hoping for. We also get a slew of limited Oscar hopefuls with AMERICAN SNIPER, SELMA, BIG EYES and TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT. It will be an interesting weekend for sure, but I think it will come down to The Hobbit and INTO THE WOODS. Note: the numbers below will be updated as they become final.

1. The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies $56.2m

2. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb $17.3m

3. Annie $16.3m

4. Exodus: Gods and Kings $8m

5. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 $7.8m

6. Wild $4.1

7. Top Five $3.5m

8. Penguins of Madagascar $3.5m

9. Big Hero 6 $3.5m

10. P.K. $3.4m

(Deadline)