Box office: ‘The Hobbit’ No.1, $90.6 million debut

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies made $56.22 million over the weekend and ranked No. 1 at the box office. Since its debut on Wednesday, the film has earned $90.6 million, and $13.6 million of that was made in IMAX alone, according to estimates by Rentrak. This is a 23 percent drop from its predecessor.

In 2012, the opening of the first of the franchise, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, brought in $84 million. In 2013, the Peter Jackson-directed The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug had a $73 million debut.

Rentrak analyst Paul Dergarabedian called the box office numbers a “triumphant” start to the end of an “incredible franchise.” He claimed the franchise has remained consistent since Lord of the Rings more than a decade ago and the audience has maintained their excitement.

However, critics had mixed reactions. It received a 61 percent approval rating on RottenTomatoes.com and an A minus with audiences on CinemaScore. This film could not match Jackson’s wrap up of the Lord of the Rings films, though. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King earned $124 million in 2003.

Another final film of a lucrative franchise directed by Shawn Levy, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, came in second place at $17.3 million. This was the last film for Robin Williams, who died in August. Like the No. 1 film, the first and second films in the franchise were more successful than the third. The first earned $30.4 at the box office and the second earned $54.2 million.

The new adaptation of the musical Annie came in third place at the box office. It made just one million less than Night at the Museum; it earned $16.3 million. This was good news for Sony since hackers linked to North Korea forced them to cancel the scheduled release of The Interview on Christmas.  Annie was also supposed to debut on Christmas day, but Sony Pictures moved up its release date to generate awareness for the film.

Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock said that Annie and Night at the Museum will continue to perform over the holidays. He admitted that the films were not as successful as he had hoped, but he mentioned that they are competing for the same “family market.” He also said the sales will rise due to children being out of school. Audiences rated the star-studded Annie at a 60 percent approval on Rottentomatoes.com, but critics only rated it at a 29 percent approval.

Exodus: Gods and Kings, directed by Ridley Scott, landed in the fourth spot and earned only $8.1 million. But Scott’s biblical film, starring Christian Bale as Moses, racked up nearly $39 million since it won the box office last weekend.

Rounding out the top five was The Hunger Games: Mockingjay–Part 1. This is the fifth weekend it has been in theaters and it earned $7.8 million. In total, the Gary Ross-directed film has earned $289.2 million. The film is the second-highest-grossing this year falling just short of Guardians of the Galaxy, which earned $332.5 million.

Reese Witherspoon’s Wild added more than 1,000 locations and claimed the sixth spot with $4.2 million at the box office. Top Five and Big Hero 6 followed close behind.

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