The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies demolished the competition at the box office with a $56 million weekend that brings the Wednesday-opening feature to a $91 million five-day domestic opening total.
The final chapter in Peter Jackson’s prequel trilogy to The Lord of the Rings has been a huge hit overseas, too. It’s earned $265 million in foreign ticket sales for a $355 million worldwide total.
Second place fell the visual-effects-laden family comedy Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. The third film in the series earned $17 million over the weekend. Its $10 million foreign take gives it a $27 million worldwide total.
Coming in fourth is Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings with a second-weekend domestic total of $8 million in ticket sales. The movie has grossed $39 million domestic and $61 million abroad for a $100 million total.
Fifth place went to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1, which sold $7.7 million in tickets domestically this weekend. That brings the third installment in the four-part movie series to $289 million domestic and $350 million foreign for a $639 million worldwide gross.
Disney’s animated adventure feature Big Hero 6 landed in eighth place with a $3.6 million domestic weekend. The Marvel adaptation has grossed $190 million domestic and $81 million foreign for a $272 million worldwide gross.
Right behind was DreamWorks Animation’s Penguins of Madagascar with a $3.5 million domestic gross for the weekend. The film has earned $64 million in domestic ticket sales and $134 million abroad for a $199 million worldwide gross.
In 11th place is Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi feature Interstellar with a $2.6 million domestic gross for the weekend. The feature has earned $171 million domestic and $464 million foreign for a $635 million worldwide gross.
And opening on a single screen — the IFC Center in New York — Cartoon Saloon’s newest feature Song of the Sea earned $18,000 in its opening weekend — a solid performance for so limited a release.
I enjoyed the Hobbit not only for the story, acting and the special effects but also because it gave us some good examples of morality. Honor, courage, kindness, love, integrity and honesty.
Well said. It was a great movie.
Strange Herb that the Hobbit is a fantasy movie that was written for pure entertainment values and yet gave us some important moral values and the Moses written to give us moral values had none.