Weekend Wrap-Up

The Woman in Black Starts Strong, Hobbit Three-peats

By John Hamann

January 4, 2015

Even the dwarves are bored now - and it's their war.

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Budget data was not released; however, given that Daniel Radcliffe is not in the sequel, one might assume that The Angel of Death cost less than the $15 million original. Like most sequels, this one's reviews weren't as good as those of the the first film. The Woman in Black 2: The Angel of Death currently sits at only 24% fresh at RottenTomatoes, whereas the original finished at 66%. The Cinemascore was also awful, coming in as a C. The original earned a B-. That said, even if Angel of Death caves completely and can only double its take stateside throughout its run, it will still earn $30 million, putting it fairly close to profitability before it even leaves North America.

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb continues its strange run, as it finishes its third weekend with a total that resembles its first, uninspired weekend. In its third frame, Secret of the Tomb earned $14.5 million, off 29% from the previous frame when it took in $20.2 million. However, that weekend was up from its first one. It earned $17.1 million in that debut weekend, which means it has averaged about $17.5 million over its first three weekends of release. For a $127 million blockbuster, these numbers aren’t good enough, but if it had opened to $17.1 million and slid from there, this would have been a disaster for Fox. Instead, Secret of the Tomb has a 17 day cumulative total of $89.7 million, and could match its production budget stateside. Overseas, Secret of the Tomb has accumulated over $91 million, so the end result may not be as bad for this one as first expected.

Annie has unfortunately not been purged from our eyeballs yet. This weekend, the kids' musical earned another $11.4 million, off 31% from last weekend when it picked up $16.5 million. The $65 million Sony release has now out-earned its budget, as it has a total so far of $72.6 million.

The Imitation Game is seventh and is the star of the show this weekend. Despite adding only seven screens to its run and bringing its total number of venues up to only 747, The Imitation Game holds completely earning $8.1 million, just ahead of the $7.9 million it earned last weekend. The $15 million Weinstein Company release is now positioned extremely well for Oscar, as it can be considered a hit despite a domestic gross of only $30.8 million – so far.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is now earning at a pace similar to that of the second Hunger Games release, Catching Fire (too bad it remains about $100 million behind). This weekend, Mockingjay Part 1 declined 24% to $7.7 million, but eclipsed Catching Fire’s $7.1 million earned over the same weekend last year. To date, Mockingjay has pulled in $323.9 million, and has crossed the $370 million mark overseas.




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The Gambler is ninth this weekend, earning $6.3 million. That gives the Mark Wahlberg starrer a drop compared to last weekend of 31%, and likely means it won’t rise above its current state. The good news for Paramount and its makers is that it met its $25 million budget this weekend, as it has a gross so far of $27.6 million.

Tenth goes to Big Hero 6, which Is in its ninth weekend. The Disney/Marvel mashup earned another $4.8 million this weekend, and despite being around so long, only dropped 4% compared to last weekend. Big Hero 6 crossed the $200 million domestic mark last Sunday and now sits with $211.3 million. The $165 million release has also earned $120 million plus overseas (so far), which pushes Big Hero 6 into the win column for Disney.

Wild is 11th and also holds nicely this weekend. The Reese Witherspoon drama took in $4.5 million this weekend and fell only 16%. The Oscar contender has a gross to date of $25.8 million and still has room to expand.

Overall, the box office stayed on track with where it was last year. A year ago, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones opened, but finished second behind the sixth wide weekend of Frozen, as the top 12 earned $127.7 million. This weekend, the top 12 earned $135.1 million, getting this year started on the right foot, as 2015 prepares to trounce 2014. That starts next weekend when Taken 3 opens, alongside expansions of both Selma and Inherent Vice.


Top Weekend Box Office for 1/2/15-1/4/15 (Estimates)
Rank Film Distributor Estimated Gross Weekly Change Running Total
1 The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies WARNER BROS. $21,910,000 - 46% $220,767,000
2 Into the Woods Disney $19,066,000 - 39% $91,209,000
3 Unbroken Universal $18,358,450 - 40% $87,801,310
4 The Woman In Black 2 Relativity $15,145,000 New $15,145,000
5 Night At the Museum: Secret of the Tomb Fox $14,450,000 - 28% $89,725,700
6 Annie Sony $11,000,000 - 34% $72,500,000
7 The Imitation Game Weinstein Co. $8,111,000 + 2% $30,808,228
8 Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt. 1 Lionsgate $7,700,000 - 23% $323,874,548
9 The Gambler Paramount $6,300,000 - 31% $27,566,000
10 Big Hero 6 Disney $4,816,000 - 4% $211,268,000
11 Wild FOX SEARCHLIGHT $4,500,000 - 16% $25,814,500
12 Exodus: Gods And Kings Fox $3,700,000 - 45% $61,224,100
  Also Opening/Notables
  A Most Violent Year A24 $188,000 New $300,000
  Big Eyes $2,623,000 - 13% $9,936,981
  The Interview Sony $1,000,000 - 45% $4,875,000
  American Sniper WARNER BROS. $640,000 + 1% $2,192,000
  Selma Paramount $645,000 + 13% $2,080,000
  Leviathan Sony Classics $30,901 + 89% $78,984
  Mr. Turner Sony Classics $231,227 - 6% $962,818
  Top Five Paramount $2,120,000 - 42% $23,720,000
  Inherent Vice WARNER BROS. $239,000 + 18% $1,451,000
  Penguins of Madagascar Fox $2,875,000 - 12% $78,091,000
  Horrible Bosses 2 WARNER BROS. $920,000 - 37% $53,078,000
  Foxcatcher Sony Classics $902,762 - 3% $7,942,789
  Interstellar Paramount $2,400,000 - 20% $182,742,000
  The Theory of Everything Focus Features $1,114,000 - 9% $24,780,019
  Birdman FOX SEARCHLIGHT $845,000 + 5% $25,415,800
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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