The Hobbit 3 Opens Big

The box office data is in for the first weekend of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and the movie has done very well in its first weekend. Considering the over all light competition, I suspect the film will own the box office through the holidays. For the three day weekend the film opened to $54.7 million in the US and $89.1 once include its Wednesday and Thursday sales. Foreign sales add another $269 million for a worldwide total of $358.1 million. There is a good chance the film could cross the $1 billion threshold but that will depend in part on how well the film continues to do in the US.

The Hobbit Box Office Update

Despite a bunch of new releases, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug remains on top of the box office for the third week in a row. Practically unheard of nowadays. The movie has benefited from the good reviews and word of mouth. Probably didn't hurt that all the other films released in December has been more for Oscar bait then big budget action fair as the studios released all those during the crowded summer. Since they are using the same game plan in 2014, the final Hobbit film will likely enjoy the same lack of meaningful competition.

Any case for this final weekend of 2013, The Hobbit took in $29.8 million for a US total of $190.3 million. Add in the foreign gross of $614 million for a worldwide total of $614.1 million. It is assumed the movie will just barely cross the $1 billion threshold joining its brother The Unexpected Journey in that rare list of movies.

Smaug Opens Strong in First Weekend of Release

The Desolation of Smaug's opening weekend US take of $73.65 million fell short of landing the December opening record set by The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ($84.6M) but I doubt Jackson and company care considering the film took in $205M worldwide essentially paying for itself in the first three days of release. The assumption is the movie will cross the $1 billion threshold and considering the overall good reviews, I see little reason to doubt it. More details on the breakdown here but basically the movie did as well as it was expected to do.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Crosses $1B Box Office

This weekend The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is now the 15th film to cross the $1 billion worldwide box office in ticket sales. The threshold was reached thanks to strong international sales of $700 million versus $300 million in the States. For the previous trilogy only The Return of the King was able to cross that point. The successful Christmas release was probably the main reason that Warner Bros felt comfortable with moving There and Back again to a Christmas schedule as the odds are high that the other two films in The Hobbit trilogy will pass a $1 billion also.

The Hobbit Drops to #3 in US Box Office

In a bit of a surprise, Texas Chainsaw 3D and Django Unchained took the US weekend box office crown from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Texas Chainsaw took in $23 million, much higher then its $20 million budget would have suggested it would while Django only dropped 33% from previous weekend for a $20.08M. Meanwhile The Hobbit dropped 45% resulting in a $17.5M take for the weekend. Regardless The Hobbit is on pace to out perform all three Lord of the Rings movies with a current US total of $264M. The international box office isn't in yet but that total is $561M for a worldwide total of $824.8. Chances are the movie is just about another weekend away from crossing $1 billion threshold.

The Hobbit Three-peats at Box Office

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey won its third consecutive weekend against new movies Django Unchained and Les Miserables. While the two new movies have been critical darlings, none of them are as all ages as The Hobbit so the victory doesn't come as much of a surprise. It will be interesting to see how many weekends it stays at number 1 as there really isn't any serious competition coming out for several weeks. The Hobbit dropped a tiny 11% from last weekend for a domestic take of $32.9 million for a US total of $222.7M. Not sure its international box office but the current total is $464M for a worldwide total of $686.7M. The film should easily be the 15th film to cross the $1 billion threshold.

The Hobbit: AUJ Tops Second Weekend in Row

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey continues to dominate the box office for the second weekend in a row beating out new films Jack Reacher and This is 40. The film took in $36.7 million over the weekend for a US total of $149.8. The take does represent a rather significant 57% drop so it seems the bad reviews from the 48FPS crowd has had a negative impact on the perception of the film. A near 50% drop for the 2nd weekend is expected but higher then that indicates its long term take will not be nearly as high as hoped with it probably topping out around $300M. At least on the US side. Internationally the film seems to be doing just find at $284M for a world wide total of $434M. At current rate I suspect the film will just barely cross the $1 billion with 70% coming from over seas sales and further indicates why Hollywood is doing more to make tent pole films more friendly worldwide (with casting decisions, locations shoot at, enemy choices and the like). Next up is the Christmas holiday with new competition from Django Unchained and Les Misérables so odds of remaining on top remain high.

The Hobbit Breaks Weekend Records

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey had an impressive opening weekend, breaking multiple box office records for December. In the States the film made $84.7 million on 4,045 theaters and internationally $138.2M on 18,200 screens. The total first week take so far is $223M. The records broke so far is biggest Friday weekend (at $37.5), biggest IMAX opening in December (at $15M), and biggest December weekend. For comparison, the second highest grosser for the weekend was Rise of the Guardians with a $7.4M weekend. Considering the weak "give me an Oscar" line-up for the rest of the year, it is possible that The Hobbit might have a chance to enjoy Avatar like numbers (its opening was $77M).