Overall, it was a very good weekend at the box office—the Top 12 earned $137.3 million, which is up a whopping 37 percent from the same weekend last year. Unless all five Christmas Day releases bomb, the 2013 box office is now guaranteed to top last year's $10.84 billion record.
In its second weekend in theaters, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug added an estimated $31.4 million. That's off 57 percent from last weekend, which is identical to the first Hobbit's drop at the same point. Smaug has so far earned $127.5 million, which is off 15 percent from the first movie's pace.
Playing at 3,507 locations, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues opened to $26.8 million this weekend. That's below the first Anchorman's $28.4 million debut, though it's not an apples-to-apples comparison: Anchorman 2burned off some demand with a Wednesday start, and opening weekends in December are historically much lower than those in July (when the first movie opened).
For the five-day frame, Anchorman 2 earned an estimated $40 million. Both of the Meet the Parentssequels also opened on the Wednesday before Christmas—Meet the Fockers brought in $70.5 million, while Little Fockers earned $45.1 million.
Anchorman's opening was generally in line with Paramount's expectations, though it does seem like the movie should have done a bit better. It definitely wasn't an awareness problem: thanks to relentless, unavoidable marketing, the average moviegoer absolutely knew that the Channel 4 news team was back on the big screen this weekend.
Instead, the slightly underwhelming debut can be chalked up to a few factors. First, the fanbase for the original probably isn't as broad as originally thought: the audience this weekend was 62 percent male, which is an unusually high number for a comedy. Also, while there were plenty of advertisements, they relied too heavily on a few jokes (in particular, Brick with the green screen was used ad nauseum).
It's important to remember that movies that open on the weekends before Christmas tend to have lower-than-expected openings before playing well through the holidays. Even with a disappointing "B" CinemaScore, it's still possible that Anchorman 2 hangs on well over the next two weeks, and a final total north of $120 million is likely.
In its fourth weekend, Disney Animation's Frozen eased 15 percent to $19.5 million, which is more than newcomers Saving Mr. Banks and Walking with Dinosaurs earned combined. Frozen has now grossed $191.6 million, which is ahead of Wreck-It Ralph ($189.4 million) and only a bit behind Tangled ($200.8 million). It now looks like Frozen will be the go-to movie for family audiences over the holiday season, and it could be on its way to over $300 million by the end of its run.
After a week in limited release, David O. Russell's star-studded ABSCAM movie American Hustle expanded to 2,507 locations and earned a fantastic $19.1 million. In comparison, Russell's The Fighter took in $12.1 million when it expanded on the same weekend in 2010. With a handful of Oscar nominations on the way, it's a foregone conclusion that this closes north of $100 million.Saving Mr. Banks also expanded nationwide, though it only mustered $9.3 million from 2,110 locations. That's worse than Charlie Wilson's War ($9.7 million), which opened on the same weekend in 2007 and also had Tom Hanks portraying a historical figure. With an "A" CinemaScore and an audience of older women (57 percent female, 61 percent 35 years of age and up), Banks should hold better than Charlie Wilson ($66.7 million), though $100 million is now out of the question.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has now earned $371.8 million, which ranks second in 2013 ahead of Despicable Me 2 ($367.5 million). The blockbuster sequel remains on pace to earn over $400 million by the end of its run.
In eighth place, Walking with Dinosaurs opened to a very poor $7.3 million. That's less than half of Yogi Bear's debut at the same time in 2010. Dinosaurs will be a solid choice for families over the Christmas holiday, though it's unlikely it earns much more than $50 million or so.
At just 236 locations, Dhoom 3 set a new Bollywood record with $3.3 million. While Bollywood movies tend to be very front-loaded, there's a chance that the holidays help Dhoom 3 ultimately get past $10 million.
Spike Jonze's Her (2013) opened at six theaters this weekend and earned a solid $258,000. That translates to a $43,000 per-theater average. The well-reviewed sci-fi romance expands in to 47 locations on Christmas Day, and is expected to go nationwide on January 10th.
Around-the-World RoundupThe Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug once again dominated the overseas box office this weekend. The movie fell 43 percent to $96 million, and has so far earned $276.3 million. According to Warner Bros., that's on par with An Unexpected Journey across the same bucket of territories.
The Hobbit's only major new market was Russia, where it set a Warner Bros. opening weekend record with $18.8 million. The movie expands in to Australia on Thursday, then reaches China and Japan in February.
Already a sensation at the domestic box office, Frozen also looks poised to be a huge hit overseas. The Disney Animation flick added $35.1 million this weekend for a new total of $152.6 million—and its only playing in 61 percent of the international marketplace. It had strong start in Mexico ($5.5 million) and Italy ($2.9 million), both of which were ahead of similar movie Tangled.
Coinciding with its disappointing domestic debut, Walking with Dinosaurs opened to $13.6 million from 40 foreign markets. Its top territory was the U.K., where it brought in a decent $1.6 million.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues debuted to $13.4 million in six foreign markets. In comparison, the original Anchorman only made $5.3 million in its entire international run. The movie had a strong $7.4 million five-day start in the U.K., and also did well in Australia ($5.2 million).
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire added $11 million for a new total of $393.6 million. It reaches its final foreign market (Japan) next Saturday.
|
TW
|
LW
|
Title
|
Weekend Gross
|
% Change
|
Total Gross
|
Budget*
|
|
1
|
1
|
The Hobbit: The
Desolation of Smaug
|
$31,505,278
|
-57.2%
|
$127,550,695
|
-
|
|
2
|
N
|
Anchorman 2: The
Legend Continues
|
$26,776,000
|
-
|
$40,000,000
|
$50
|
|
3
|
2
|
Frozen (2013)
|
$19,642,107
|
-13.0%
|
$192,034,117
|
$150
|
|
4
|
15
|
American Hustle
|
$19,106,933
|
+2,480.4%
|
$20,220,301
|
$40
|
|
5
|
18
|
Saving Mr. Banks
|
$9,344,381
|
+2,160.5%
|
$9,969,867
|
$35
|
|
6
|
4
|
The Hunger Games:
Catching Fire
|
$8,764,479
|
-35.9%
|
$371,718,275
|
$130
|
|
7
|
3
|
Tyler Perry's A
Madea Christmas
|
$8,384,980
|
-47.6%
|
$28,155,257
|
-
|
|
8
|
N
|
Walking with
Dinosaurs
|
$7,091,938
|
-
|
$7,091,938
|
-
|
|
9
|
N
|
Dhoom 3
|
$3,422,590
|
-
|
$3,422,590
|
-
|
|
10
|
5
|
Thor: The Dark
World
|
$1,341,763
|
-52.4%
|
$200,779,871
|
$170
|
|
11
|
8
|
Philomena
|
$1,210,637
|
-33.5%
|
$13,322,189
|
-
|
|
12
|
19
|
Inside Llewyn
Davis
|
$1,081,364
|
+203.1%
|
$2,132,514
|
-
|
|
13
|
9
|
The Book Thief
|
$753,408
|
-56.6%
|
$16,596,997
|
-
|
|
14
|
13
|
Nebraska
|
$580,000
|
-36.4%
|
$4,386,000
|
$12
|
|
15
|
10
|
Homefront
|
$526,672
|
-69.1%
|
$19,783,777
|
$22
|
|
16
|
7
|
Delivery Man
|
$486,339
|
-75.3%
|
$29,279,225
|
$26
|
|
17
|
14
|
Gravity
|
$431,497
|
-42.1%
|
$253,567,282
|
$100
|
|
18
|
12
|
The Best Man
Holiday
|
$393,120
|
-62.8%
|
$69,794,435
|
$17
|
|
19
|
11
|
Dallas Buyers
Club
|
$382,846
|
-67.4%
|
$15,156,122
|
-
|
|
20
|
16
|
12 Years a Slave
|
$370,090
|
-49.5%
|
$37,080,316
|
-
|
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