The weekend box office of 26-28 December 2014 festively welcomed previous day’s releases; figures were tight and charts mixed and rearranged through the holidays. Probably the best proof of that kind is the last movie pertaining to the Tolkien universe, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, which was a real comeback and classified at the top of the weekend box office with a total sum of $41,420,000, bettering Christmas day released movies like Unbroken or Into the Woods, titles which on 25 December were above the Hobbit in both ranking and figures.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies was the lead of the box office chart in the day of its release, 17 December 2014, when gained a total of $24,452,117 and that figure rounded as the last days of the week approached and the sum of $56,220,000 was attached to the last Hobbit of the franchise as a total of last weekend. Christmas day, on the other hand, released a couple of discussed, strong-themed, dramatic and at the same time magical productions which not only threatened, but also dethroned Peter Jackson’s fantasy. Unbroken, the drama of Olympic runner and war hero Louis Zamperini was the one which rejoiced as number one position of the Christmas box office with the sum of $15,592,000. Rob Marshall’s magical ride Into the Woods along with modernized fairy-tale characters cashed $15,089,740, a very close figure. In the weekend box office of 26-28 December both of these fresh releases were surpassed by The Hobbit and its Battle of Five Armies. Thus, Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken positioned on second place with a total of $31,748,000 and Into the Woods followed once again, with a really tight difference and a total of $31,021,000.
Next in line was Shawn Levy’s comic journey Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, with a more modest sum of $20,600,000. Even less watched by cinema-goers, but still in the top five positions of the weekend box office was Will Gluck’s Annie (2014), staring Quvenzhané Wallis, Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx, whose total was of $16,600,000.
Another Christmas day release, Tim Burton’s appreciated and well-received by critics Big Eyes, was the bad surprise of both Christmas and weekend box office. In the day of its release, the Lana Del Rey sound tracked biography-drama settled with a position outside the top ten titles of the charts, although it was released in 1,307 theaters. The modest sum of $1,415,000 brought the Weinstein Company picture a number 12 position, which was switched during the weekend with even lower chart placements.
Top 5 titles of the weekend box office of 19-21 December 2014:
1. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – $41,420,000
2. Unbroken – $31,748,000
3. Into the Woods – $31,021,000
4. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb – $20,600,000
5. Annie (2014) – $16,600,000