Weekend Box Office Report: December 27-29 2013

By Kip Mooney • On • In News News 0

 

BOX OFFICE REPORT December 27-29, 2013(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 51. The Hobbit ($29.8 million)2. Frozen ($28.8 million)3. Anchorman 2 ($26.7 million)4. American Hustle ($19.1 million)5. The Wolf of Wall Street ($18.5 million)

 

It sounds a little familiar: Just like last Christmas, The Hobbit made just enough money to stay at No. 1, fending off a slew of new releases. The estimated $29.8 million it earned was a drop of a mere five percent, something unheard of these days. Just as unlikely: Frozen finishing at No. 2, taking in nearly 50 percent more than it did last week, despite shedding more than 200 screens. Lots of people went to the movies this weekend, but the wealth was spread around.

Anchorman 2, even after its weak opening, dropped only 25 percent. Comedy sequels usual take a significant hit in week 2. By comparison, The Hangover Part II dropped 63.5 percent in its second week. American Hustle was actually up a fraction after last weekend, its first weekend in wide release, taking in $19.5 million. Its great word-of-mouth should make it one of the highest-grossing Best Picture nominees.

The only new release to debut in the Top 5 was The Wolf of Wall Street. It looked like it would have had a much stronger turnout after opening at No. 2 on Christmas Day. But it's a polarizing dark comedy, which means it will be a tough sell from here on out. Add that to this nonsense idea that the film actually glorifies the abhorrent excess of stockbrokers, and it may not make back its $100 million budget. As always, don't let someone else make these decisions for you.

Outside the top 5: - This Weekend's Indie Champ: Lone Survivor, Peter Berg's take on Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell's ill-fated Afghanistan mission. The film opened on just two screens for an Oscar-qualifying run, earning $46,250 on each one. It goes wide on January 10. 

- The other Christmas releases mostly flopped. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty has made $25.5 million since opening Wednesday. That's a lot better than its competition. 47 Ronin made $20 million, Grudge Match did $13.4 million, and the despicable Justin Bieber's Believe made a mere $4 million.

- It's a Christmas miracle for Tyler Perry! After one of his weakest openings ever, A Madea Christmas is now right in line with his typical output. It's now made $43.7 million and should finish just shy of $55 million, right where most of his Madea movies end.

Next week: It's holiday leftovers mostly. The only new wide release is the Paranormal Activity spin-off The Marked Ones. Paranormal Activity 4 seemed to mark the beginning of the end for the franchise. It made only $53 million, or only a million more than its predecessor made on opening weekend. There's no telling how this one will do, but audiences have much lower expectations in January. I predict $20 million, enough to finally supplant The Hobbit. 

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

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