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I have just thrown a lot of numbers at you. Let me summarize them in an easily understandable manner. For Christmas week of 2001, The Fellowship of the Ring earned $44 million in domestic box office, an average of $11 million a day. For the following week including the New Year’s holiday period, combined weekday box office was $27.2 million. Obviously, revenue was down from the prior week yet we are still discussing an average weekday of $6.8 million.

The second set of weekdays of 2002 reflects the time frame after the Twelve Days of Box Office. The Fellowship of the Ring attained a respectable $7.2 million over these four days, an average of $1.8 million a day. The average weekday for Christmas week is $11 million, $6.8 million for New Year’s and $1.8 million for the post-holiday period in early January. This is the meta evaluation of how much the late December period inflates box office.

An average film should fall 50% from one set of weekdays to the next. The Fellowship of the Ring fell 74% from New Year’s week to the second batch of post-holiday weekdays. And we are talking about an overall leggy movie. From January 7th until its exit from theaters, the movie earned another $110 million but at a much slower pace than during the Twelve Days of Box Office. From December 21st to January 1st, The Fellowship of the Ring earned $146.2 million. This total represents 46% of its entire domestic total of $315.5 million.

The information above is pertinent since we now have a full set of Christmas weekdays for The Hobbit. From Monday to Thursday of this week, the movie grossed $39.7 million. That is an average of $9.9 million a day. In direct comparison to The Fellowship of the Ring, its pace is $1.1 million a day worse. I have concerns about this due in large part to 11 years of ticket price inflation, especially for a 3D/IMAX feature.

At least some of these concerns are negated by the fact that The Hobbit is five days further into its release pattern. If it has a similar weekday drop to the first LOTR movie’s 39%, the New Year’s weekdays would have an average of $6 million. What I can say with certainty about next week is that Tuesday will be the best, Monday will be the second best and Thursday will be the worst. In terms of the upcoming weekend, The Fellowship of the Ring fell only 18%. There will be further bells, whistles and alarm sirens ringing if The Hobbit drops any more than 30%. With people on vacation on Monday, its weekend hold should be solid. If it’s not, it’s done, current first place position notwithstanding.

Les Miserables remains upbeat despite the tragic subject matter. Despite falling to second place, the news is still glowing overall. Its $9.2 million Thursday brings its three-day take to $39.4 million. I can say with all sincerity that three months ago, I wasn’t convinced it would earn more than that during its entire domestic run.

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