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Also starring Cameron Diaz as the tyrannical foster home parent, Rose Byrne (who probably looks at Jennifer Garner's career with a cold stare) as Foxx's assistant, and a handful of other character actors, this seems to be a rather toothless adaptation of the musical, which has gutted many of the songs but also hired a bunch of non-singers to act in a musical. Which... no. Even as a non-fan of musicals, I'm offended.

Even with that, it's not quite bad enough to reach train-wreck status (a noble intention goes a long way), it still doesn't have much to recommend it to casual audiences, and the light stabs at humor place it firmly in the “harmless, but completely avoidable” category. This should come in with about $11 million this weekend.

Expanding into wide release is Wild, an Oscar candidate starring Reese Witherspoon as a woman who undertakes an 1,100 mile hiking trip on her own as therapy for a recent personal tragedy. Based on a true story, the film is a bit of an acting showcase for Witherspoon and could be a non-jackass version of Into the Wild, and is being hailed as a tour de force acting showcase for Witherspoon. It could also make noise for its director, Jean-Marc Vallee, and its writer, BOP patron saint Nick Hornby. Moving into about 1,000 venues, it should earn around $6 million.

December box office tends to be an exercise in staying power, as films attempt to make it to the Christmas holiday while still earning enough money to make a difference in their final totals, with the equivalent of two extra weekends in there. Exodus: Gods and Kings is the first candidate to win by virtue of being the top earning film heading into the break with $24 million. Although this is a stunning disappointment for a film budgeted well past $100 million, it does have a bit of a chance if can hold on for one more week. I'd bet against amazing legs, but even bad films get helped. Give it $12 million this weekend.

The Hunger Games has franchise power going for it, but public sentiment going way, way waaay against it, as it continues to lose pace to its predecessor. Mockingjay Part 1 should earn about $7 million this weekend and will cross the $300 million milestone next week sometime, but it's a hollow victory.

Top Five, Chris Rock's semi-autobiographical film about a comedian's life and troubled family, expands by a few hundred theaters this weekend, and should hold its own at about $7 million. With the Christmas bonus week, it stands a good chance at $50 million total.

Family films benefit the most from the Christmas week, naturally, and Penguins of Madagascar and Big Hero 6 are the two poised to really cash in. Even though they'll both earn a little less than $5 million this weekend, a jump for both of these films starting on Monday is distinctly possible.

Forecast: Weekend of December 19-21, 2014
Rank	Film	Number of Sites	Changes in Sites from Last	Estimated Gross ($)
1	The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies	3,875	New	64.6
2	Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb	3,784	New	26.5
3	Exodus: Gods and Kings	3,503	0	12.7
4	Annie	3,116	New	11.3
5	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1	3,174	-557	7.5
6	Top Five	1,307	+328	7.0
7	Wild	1,061	+945	6.5
8	Penguins of Madagascar	2,717	-950	4.5
9	Big Hero 6	2,407	-536	4.0
10	Interstellar	1,550	-1,142	3.4

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