The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies had a $56.2 million dollar debut this past weekend. It is the lowest opening of the series and speaks to many casual moviegoers who have lost interest in the saga. The film actually opened on Wednesday and has accumulated over $90 million dollars total. However the film is still tracking to cross the $250 million dollar mark in total domestic gross, before it is all said and done.
Ben Stiller’s third installment of his magical museum series, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, had a tepid opening with $17.3 million dollars. This is yet another franchise sequel that underperformed in 2014. With a reported budget of $127 million, surely Fox is crossing their fingers that the foreign market performs well or they are looking at taking a huge loss.
The modern retelling of the Broadway play Annie failed to captivate large audiences as well. The musical made $16.3 million dollars in its first week of release, which is surely a disappointing figure.
Exodus: Gods and Kings fell from first to fourth place in its second week. Ridley Scott’s biblical epic plummeted to $8 million dollar weekend. It looks like audiences are staying away like the plague…(it’s Monday.)
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt 1 finally came down to Earth and made $7.7 million dollars in its fifth week of release. The film looks poised to cross the $300 million dollar mark within weeks.
Check out the complete box-office breakdown for the weekend of 12/19-12/21:
| TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count /Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
| 1 | N | The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies | WB | $56,220,000 | – | 3,875 | – | $14,508 | $90,627,000 | – | 1 |
| 2 | N | Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb | Fox | $17,300,000 | – | 3,785 | – | $4,571 | $17,300,000 | $127 | 1 |
| 3 | N | Annie (2014) | Sony | $16,300,000 | – | 3,116 | – | $5,231 | $16,300,000 | $65 | 1 |
| 4 | 1 | Exodus: Gods and Kings | Fox | $8,065,000 | -66.6% | 3,503 | – | $2,302 | $38,902,000 | $140 | 2 |
| 5 | 2 | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 | LGF | $7,750,000 | -38.9% | 3,174 | -557 | $2,442 | $289,227,000 | $125 | 5 |
| 6 | 10 | Wild (2014) | FoxS | $4,150,000 | +171.1% | 1,061 | +945 | $3,911 | $7,211,000 | – | 3 |
| 7 | 4 | Top Five | Par. | $3,570,000 | -48.2% | 1,307 | +328 | $2,731 | $12,456,000 | – | 2 |
| 8 | 5 | Big Hero 6 | BV | $3,563,000 | -41.2% | 2,407 | -536 | $1,480 | $190,441,000 | $165 | 7 |
| 9 | 3 | Penguins of Madagascar | Fox | $3,525,000 | -51.1% | 2,717 | -950 | $1,297 | $64,172,000 | $132 | 4 |
| 10 | N | P.K. | UTV | $3,461,000 | – | 272 | – | $12,724 | $3,461,000 | – | 1 |
What did you catch over the weekend? Was it any good? Check out our Monthly Media Roundup for December to see what movies are releasing next week. What are you going to see next weekend? Let us know on the comment boards, and !
Source: Box Office Mojo