The Twelve Days of Box Office: Day One
By David Mumpower
December 23, 2014
With $98.1 million in the bank after six days, The Hobbit Ever After is slightly ahead of the pace of Desolation of Smaug. The fifth Lord of the Rings flick had garnered $91 million by this point. It bears noting that Smaug debuted a week earlier, and that does make a difference with regards to actual performance. In other words, The Battle of the Five Armies is not receiving the end of the franchise bump Warner Bros. may have hoped for.
The good news is that a lot can change in a few days. To wit, Avatar had grossed only $126 million after six days. While not a direct calendar comparison (its Christmas Day occurred on a Friday), it does demonstrate how much a strong Twelve Days of Box Office performance can elevate a title in a short period of time.
Along those lines, the other new films from last weekend actually held even better on Monday. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb fell only 30% from $4.9 million on Sunday to $3.4 million yesterday. It has a four-day total of $20.5 million, which is fairly disappointing. Two weeks from now, we may be describing it differently.
Annie behaved similarly, dropping 29% from $4.5 million Sunday to $3.2 million yesterday. With $19.1 million in the bank, it is running neck and neck with Night at the Museum, which is fairly impressive. While a remake, it does not have the awareness or built-in popularity of Night at the Museum. If anything, its existence feels a bit superfluous.
While there are other big releases to discuss later in the week, the final film I want to discuss is The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. While the latest franchise title has taken a step back from Catching Fire, it grossed another $1.7 million Monday, good enough for fourth place, relegating Exodus: Gods and Kings to fifth place in the process.
The most recent Hunger Games movie has now earned $291.1 million after 32 days. Catching Fire had already accumulated $374 million by that point. What we will be tracking is whether the third film can make up any of that ground. Over its next 12 days, Catching Fire grossed $31.6 million.
Let’s track whether Mockingjay – Part 1 beats that total thanks to the magic of the holidays. It is currently playing from behind, because Catching Fire earned $2.3 million on its 32nd day, $600,000 more than the most recent release.
Okay, those are the facts as we know at the start of the 12 Days of Box Office. On a site note, I will be keeping a regular schedule tomorrow and Wednesday. Thursday is a travel day, as I head to Illinois to visit my wife’s family. That update may be late or even delayed a day. If you are wondering about Top Film Industry Stories, we will start to publish those next Monday, December 29th. As always, thank you for reading BOP.
|
|
Rank |
Film |
Distributor |
Gross |
Total Gross |
|
1
|
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
|
Warner Bros.
|
9.0
|
98.1
|
|
2
|
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
|
20th Century Fox
|
3.4
|
20.5
|
|
3
|
Annie
|
Sony
|
3.2
|
19.1
|
|
4
|
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
|
Lionsgate
|
1.7
|
291.1
|
|
5
|
Exodus: Gods and Kings
|
20th Century Fox
|
1.3
|
40.2
|
|
6
|
Big Hero 6
|
Walt Disney
|
1.1
|
191.6
|
|
7
|
Penguins of Madagascar
|
20th Century Fox
|
1.0
|
65.1
|
|
8
|
Wild
|
Fox Searchlight
|
0.7
|
7.9
|
|
9
|
Interstellar
|
Paramount Pictures
|
0.66
|
172.2
|
|
10
|
Top Five
|
Paramount Pictures
|
0.5
|
13.0
|
Continued:
1
2
|
|
|
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