Box Office: The Battle of the Holiday Releases Part 1
Sunday, December 21, 2014 at 1:07PM Manuel here reporting for box office duty. While news about the Sony hack dominated headlines, the domestic box office was slowly showing signs of life after a rather muted start to december (Exodus: Gods and Kings anyone?). Thankfully (for studios, critics would clearly disagree) the crop of new films offered some needed entertainment and seem poised to offer some successes as the holidays approach this coming week.
Peter Jackson’s sixth (sixth!!) entry in the Tolkien saga easily won the weekend (having opened on Wednesday), proving that, yes, audiences will visit Middle Earth #OneLastTime. New family-friendly films Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Annie came in second and third respectively while in the lower-rung of the Top 10 (and hovering right below it), specialty releases and Oscar-bound films performed rather well. I for one, am happy to see Reese Witherspoon (who we just Posterized) and Cheryl Strayed’s Wild at #6. It’s a great film which has, for reasons that feel both expected and frustrating, not been making enough of a dent in the “Best of”/Oscar conversations (after the McConnaissance and the Reesurgence, might Jean-Marc Vallée ratify the Gyllenhaalism we’re all experiencing with Demolition, out next year? Who should he take on next?)
TOP SIXTEEN
01 BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES $56.2 NEW (cum. $90.6) Five Beautiful Armies
02 NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 3 $17.3 NEW
03 ANNIE $16.3 NEW
04 EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS $8 (cum. $38.9) Michael's Review
05 MOCKINGJAY PT 1 $7.7 (cum. $289.2) Michael's Review
06 WILD $4.1 (cum. $7.2) Nathaniel's Review, Laura Dern Interview
07 TOP FIVE $3.5 (cum. $12.4) Nathaniel's Thoughts
08 BIG HERO 6 $3.5 (cum. $190.4) Tim's Review / Nathaniel's Take
09 THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR $3.5 (cum. $64.1) Tim's Review
10 P.K. $3.5 NEW
11 INTERSTELLAR $2.6 (cum. $171.4) Michael's Review, Podcast
12 HORRIBLE BOSSES $2.1 (cum. $47.7)
13 THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING $1.59 (cum. $19.8) Review, podcast
14 FOXCATCHER $0.95 (cum. $4.4) Review, Michael's Take, podcast
15 BIRDMAN $0.91 (cum. $22.2) Review, podcast, interview
That #10 entry is for the Bollywood film P.K. which made headlines a couple of weeks back with its NSFW-ish poster of leading man Aamir Khan. Needless to say, it’s doing great business in India where it was also released this weekend. You’ll also note that the male-skewing Oscar favorites continue to expand (or hold on, in the case of Birdman) as they rack up critical and industry citations. Indeed, The Imitation Game’s #16 placement is impressive considering it is only in 79 screens, by far amassing the greatest haul for a film in under 100 screens.
PLATFORM (Under 100 screens)
01 IMITATION GAME$0.89 79 locations (cum. $3.19) Review, Glenn's take, Podcast
02 INHERENT VICE $0.147 5 locations (cum. $0.6) Conversation
03 MR TURNER$0.109 5 locations NEW Review, Press conference
04 THE BABADOOK $0.089 79 locations (cum. $0.466) Interview
05 CITIZENFOUR $0.058 52 locations (cum. $2.04) Podcast
Both at five locations, PTA's Inherent Vice and Mike Leigh's Mr Turner posted strong numbers. This gives them both a needed boost (and Vice the distinction of posting the biggest per screen average two weeks in a row, though losing half of its audience. Guess them PTA fans rushed to see it last week?)
What did you see this weekend?
Reader Comments (17)
The hobbit.. With an idiot next to me chewing on ice throughout. openng weekend audiences are the worst.
It was a Netflix weekend here: Godzilla, Skeleton Twins, A Most Wanted Man. Surprised that Philip Seymour Hoffman's strong performance in Corbijn's stately film never got any end-of-year critical traction. Not even the sentimental vote?
Curious on your take on why Wild didn't open in a wide release. The book was a huge hit and Reese is well known. I know friends who have been waiting months to see it and by the time it opens here it will be the holidays and people will be busy. I understand building momentum on smaller films but it seems to me that knowledge of this movie was high enough they should have had a wide release a few weeks ago.
LOL I love these charts. Of the 16 films you list, only 8 are playing within a 100 miles of me (and I'm not out in the wilds of Montana, I'm supposedly living in a quasi suburban area). I have Hobbits out the ass, Mockingjay's to spare, more autotuned orphans than I could have imagined, plenty of animation, lots of pot heads (but none of them are on film--(never allow photos)) and enough CGI museum players to keep me from ever darkening the doors of a natural history museum again.
But I have no geniuses, no wild women, no clipped winged former superheroes, no black faces despite an audience....even the space travelers have gone back to dust. Thanks for reminding me of what we are all missing out here. <grin>
San Fran -- as detailed here many a time, the sentimental vote for posthumous nomination is very hard to come by. Yet each time someone famous dies a lot of pundits assume that it will be there. It's actually quite rare. I have yet to see the film but i know Amir is pissed that i haven't yet. he is crazy about it.
Daisy -- i'm always curious about why some film sstart so small. It seems to me a distributor confidence problem -- like "all dramas can only find their audience is they start small" -- which is an odd confidence problem to have when you have an a) bestseller and b) a A list star in the adaptation of that bestseller.
I saw "Wild," and was pleasantly surprised. And I only saw it because I was late for the opening of "Foxcatcher." I always root for Laura Dern but sadly, I don't think she had enough to do here.
I saw Foxcatcher, finally. Nat R., I feel like I experienced it the same way your indifferent review reflected. A lot of good pieces (the three leads, cinematography, etc.) but it's one-note atmosphere of dread from the get-go and molasses pace (seriously, why such long pauses...between...each...line?) eventually lead to the movie being crushed by its own indulgent self-seriousness.
And The Babadook! So much more emotional, depressing (but not in a bad way) and creepy than I anticipated. Ugh, when all these articles coming out about what a weak year it's been for the Best Actress category, why can't someone like Essie Davis break through? Plus Cotillard, Slate, Johansson, etc. I know these aren't typical Oscar-bait films but maybe it's time critics and bloggers stand up and unite against the Academy's narrow view of what's deemed worthwhile?
I rewatched The Babadoook and painted Amelia and Mr. Babadook at the same time. I waited for the birthday party to get my sketch of Amelia's face and went from there. I want to pair it with The Bad Seed and have viewing parties for my teacher friends. "See, you could have it much worse than you do."
I saw Mr. Turner. Not my favorite Leigh, but at least it's not the typical biopic. Loved Marion Bailey.
Technically, I didn't see anything this weekend (Friday - Sunday). However, I saw The Hobbit on Wednesday and Thursday. It's definitely a flawed effort but like the other two films, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Hell, I'll probably see it one more time on Wednesday!
Locke. Tom Hardy gave a remarkable performance. Why hasn't anyone (except a few bloggers) mentioned this? Too small a movie, I guess. Yay Olivia Coleman and Ruth Wilson for great voice work.
Wild. I liked it a lot, but it won't make my top ten. Reese gave a decent performance however she's too much of a celebrity/movie star (especially in all those closeups) and I had a hard time buying her as Cheryl (I read the book.) Unlike Michelle Williams in Wendy and Lucy, Reese, IMO, did not disappear into the role. Plus a tiny annoyance: after days on the trail, her hair and complexion (sans a bit of movie dirt and scrapes) were WAY too clean. Nice cameo from that cute bearded Dutch guy from GoT. And Laura Dern was awesome, but as someone else said, she didn't have enough to do.
I saw the Hobbit trilogy. They were playing the first two together with the new one. I'm glad I saw it that way, since most of the characters and the plot are in the first two, and the last one seems to be a whole lot of battles. Also, they seemed short that way. The audience we were in was extremely well mannered, although yes, there was a lot of eating.
I saw "The Hobbit - It Finally Ends!" better than the first one but not as great as the last- some of the battle scenes are confusing and it was hard to tell who was fighting whom- but like the rest of the series it does deliver on spectacle and visual splendor.
Pam: Funny, my one pet peeve with Wild was that Reese's face was always way too dirty-looking. Compare her to the woman and other hikers she meets who have those weatherbeaten, outdoorsy mountain-person faces, rather than the "see-I'm-grimy" look Reese sports. It stuck out to me.
Totally agree that Wild should have been released wide. Sometime in September would have been perfect and I wouldn't have been surprised to see the film, with a good marketing campaign, do very well.
I saw The Hobbit Friday night. The first hour and a half is Peter Jackson at his worst. The final hour or so is Peter Jackson at his best. He's just that kind of filmmaker now, I guess.
Then today I saw Robert Altman's film HealtH at MOMA. It is kind of a spectacular mess in the way that only Altman could make them. Lauren Bacall, James Garner and Glenda Jackson give really great performances.
Not sure I agree on Dern not having enough to do in Wild. Though her screen time was limited, I felt her character helped carry the weight more than I imagined coming in. The fact that she's a brilliant actress doesn't hurt.