Friday Box Office Analysis
By Tim Briody
December 20, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The final Hobbit entry takes in $16.6 million on Friday after a $24.4 million Wednesday and a $9.9 million Thursday. The other two Hobbit films don’t compare too well to this opening since it’s the only one that opened on a Wednesday, though it stands at $50.9 million already after just three days. The Friday figure is a decent after the big Wednesday, and positions it well to take advantage of the Christmas bump after the relative disappointment of The Desolation of Smaug last year. It’s looking at a three day weekend of just a hair under $50 million and a solid $84.1 million over five days.
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
The third Night at the Museum film earns $5.6 million on Friday, a big drop from both previous Night at the Museum entries. While Battle of the Smithsonian took in $15.5 million, that was a Memorial Day weekend release. The original film was a Christmas release and even that got off to a better start with $12.1 million as it proceeded to be the dominant film of the 2006 holiday season and finished with $250 million. Secret of the Tomb will likely be the top family option over the next two weeks but the heights of the previous entries are not likely to be reached. This weekend, though, Night at the Museum looks to come in with an $18.5 million weekend.
Annie
The updated musical is also vying for family dollars over Christmas and starts with $5.3 million on Friday. The head start and slight edge here go to Night at the Museum but it will be and interesting race to watch (Annie is also potentially vying for musical dollars with Into the Woods opening next weekend) over the next two weeks of big box office. It’s going to start with a weekend of $16 million and looks to hold its own from there.
Wild
Expanding into over 1,000 theaters, Wild earns $1.1 million on Friday. [bp:75_]Reese Witherspoon[/bp] has become a virtual lock for a Best Actress nomination, so that’s the primary draw here. It’s looking for a weekend of $3.5 million and will likely continue to add some screens.