Box Office: The Battle of the Five Armies Beats Competition for # 1 Place

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Saturday: 7:30AM: Warner Bros. is reporting this morning that The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies made $16.575M Friday for a cume of $51M with $2.18M coming from IMAX alone (13% of Friday). IMAX looks to have a 16% of FSS and 3D shows are pulling in about 50% of the gross, which is higher than Smaug,but about the same as An Unexpected Journey. Per some early morning estimates, the weekend showdown for No. 2 between Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Annielooks like it’s wider. Fox is reporting Museum in second with $5.625M yesterday, a position the Ben Stiller comedy plans to hold throughout the weekend with $18.3M. Sony’s Annie posted $5.3M and is now eyeing a $16-$17M weekend.

Five Armies is playing strong everywhere: “We’re over-indexing in Canada, playing strong in the Pacific and even in small and medium towns too,” said Warner Bros. distribution EVP and general sales manager. Why did WB bow the Hobbit threequelon a Wednesday instead of a Friday? Previous Hobbits, like most mega-tentpoles over a FSS, are front-loaded, with their highest day being Friday and than sliding downward on Saturday and Sunday. The decision to bow Five Armies on a Wednesday boils down to “when Christmas falls. The Christmas holiday falling on a Thursday is better this year,” explains Goldstein. In 2013, Christmas fell on a Wednesday, while in 2012, the holiday fell on a Tuesday. This year, with Christmas and New Year’s on Thursday, it’s back-to-back four-day weekends.

The Battle of The Five Armies Surpasses Openings of ALL OTHER P.J. TOLKIEN films in UK and Ireland!

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£ 9.76 Million !

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Peter Jackson’s third and final Hobbit movie, The Battle of the Five Armies, has stormed the UK and Ireland box office in its opening weekend.

The Middle Earth epic, based on JRR Tolkien’s classic fantasy novel, grossed  million to take the number one spot and surpass the debuts for preceding films An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug.

It also beat the openings for Jackson’s Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy.

“This is the film audiences across the UK have been waiting for and truly an event for all moviegoers and Hobbit fans,” said Josh Berger, president of Warner Bros.

“We congratulate Peter Jackson, his iconic cast and behind-the-scenes team for delivering such an epic and satisfying conclusion to this incredible 13-year cinematic journey to Middle Earth.”