By Chris Kavan - 01/04/15 at 09:30 PM CT
It was a three-peat for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies over the first weekend of the new year. Thanks to the Middle-Earth finale, along with a decent horror debut and some strong holdovers from last weekend, the top 12 films at the box office earned 6% more compared to first weekend in 2014. While there wasn't too much excitement, there was one record set (in limited release) and Oscar hopefuls continued to do very strong business in fewer theaters.
1) THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF FIVE ARMIES
It's been a fine run for the final chapter in the Hobbit trilogy. For the third time (and keeping in line with the previous Hobbit films) The Battle of Five Armies took the top spot over the weekend. With a $21.9 million take, Five Armies now stands at $220.7 million. While the third weekend was lower than both the Unexpected Journey and Desolation of Smaug - those two films also had their third weekend over the lucrative holiday period. Five Armies is still outpacing Smaug by a good margin and it should be able to top that film's $258.3 million and is looking to wind up somewhere around the $265-$270 million range. On the worldwide scale, it has earned $723 million - and with China still to come, it should be one of the highest-grossing films of 2014 on the global scale, certain to pass Guardians of the Galaxy and become second only to Transformers: Age of Extinction for the year. It's a very good end to the fantasy series.
2)
INTO THE WOODS
The fantasy musical wound up in second place just ahead of Unbroken for the second weekend. With $19 million, the film dipped about 39% from its opening weekend and has now earned $91.2 million. Given the trajectory so far, Into the Woods is looking at a total of around the $120 million mark before it exits theaters.
3)
UNBROKEN
In what amounts to nearly a dead heat for second place, Angelina Jolie's Unbroken landed just behind Into the Woods with $18.4 million, raising its total to $87.8 million. The film was down an even 40% over its opening. The true-life story of Louis Zamperini is also looking like it will finish in the $120 million range as well and this film and Into the Woods should follow a very similar pattern over the next few weekends.
4)
THE WOMAN IN BLACK 2: ANGEL OF DEATH
The only new film to open in wide release over the weekend, Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death beat most expectations with a pretty decent $15.1 million opening (most had pegged it at coming in around $10 million). However, this opening comes with a bleak outlook for its long-term prospects. The film dropped 51% from its Friday opening - making this one of the most front-loaded films of all time. It also opened lower than Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones ($18.3 million) and, most telling, only earned a blah "C" Cinemascore from its mostly younger (65% under 25) audience. Taking everything into account, though it may have had a decent opening, Angel of Death is looking at a total that will be lucky to amount to $30 million.
5)
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB
Displaced by Angel of Death, Secret of the Tomb fell one spot to fifth place with $14.45 million (dropping a scant 28.5%) and raising its total to just under $90 million. The film is going to top the $100 million mark but is still going to fall short of its $127 million budget and will wind up well below the previous two films in the series.
Outside the top five: I promised a record that was broken and that honor goes to American Sniper. Clint Eastwoods drama following SEAL sniper Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) remained in just four theaters but took in $640,000 for a per-theater average of $160,000 - the biggest average for a live-action movie in its second weekend, easily topping previous holder Moulin Rouge ($96,549 average). The film is set to expand nationwide January 16 - and then we'll see how it stands next to fellow war films Zero Dark Thirty ($24.4 million opening) and Lone Survivor ($37.8 million opening). Chances are it will wind up between the two - but maybe it can top both of them.
Playing in nearly the same amount of theaters (gaining 7 technically) The Imitation Game continued to show power, jumping 2.3% over last weekend and rising from 8th to 7th place with $8.1 million for a new total of $30.8 million. The Alan Turing biopic continues to outpace The King's Speech and has all but solidified its place at the Oscars. Whether is can win it all will have to play out, but its chances are certainly right up there with Boyhood.
Next week brings us Taken 3, where Liam Neeson will once again stretch his action muscles in this (probable) final film in the series. The weekend will also see the nationwide expansion of the Martin Luther King, Jr. drama Selma - which looks to have a good chance of reaching the Oscars itself.
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