Weekend Wrap-Up: Exodus Win, but Overall Box Office is on the Run

December 15, 2014

Exodus: Gods and Kings poster

All-in-all, the box office matched expectations, but sadly, that is not a good thing. Exodus: Gods and Kings opened with $24.12 million, which is anemic for a film that cost $140 million to make. Top Five had a better per theater average, but was playing in less than 1,000 theaters, so it will only become a midlevel hit, at best. Overall, the box office did rise 6.8% from last weekend, but this still only amounted to $83 million. Worse still, this was 43% lower than the same weekend last year. Last year, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opened with $73.65 million, which is about 2% less than the top ten earned this year. It should come as no surprise that 2014 lost in the year-over-year comparison, while it continues to lose ground in the year-to-date race as well. Currently, 2014 has pulled in a total of $9.41 billion, which is 4.8% or $470 million lower than last year's pace. There's no chance 2014 will catch up at this point. I just hope it doesn't sink any lower.

Exodus: Gods and Kings struggled during its opening earning $24.12 million. Granted, this was more than enough for first place and just over $1 million more than I predicted it would make, but that's not a reason to celebrate. There is some good news, as the two-week Christmas / New Year holiday begins on Friday. There is also bad news, as the competition will be intense and its reviews are pitiful. The film will need to make at least $100 million domestically and $200 million internationally to break even anytime soon, but I don't think that's going to happen.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 was pushed into second place with $12.69 million over the weekend for a total of $276.88 million after four weeks of release. The film held on a little better than Catching Fire did, but it needs to avoid a big dip next weekend to catch up to Guardians of the Galaxy.

Penguins of Madagascar landed in third place with $7.21 million over the weekend for a total of $58.75 million after three weeks of release. This is a terrible result for a film that cost $132 million to make, but it should find a more receptive audience internationally.

Top Five opened in fourth place with $6.89 million in just 979 theaters over the weekend. Its per theater average was $7,043, which was the second best in the top ten. (Only Wild beat it.) This is probably not enough to expand significantly this Friday, but thanks to excellent reviews and the upcoming holidays, it should have long enough legs to become a midlevel hit. Since it only cost $12 million to make, this would be enough to break even before the home market.

Big Hero 6 managed to grab the final spot in the top five with $6.06 million over the weekend for a total of $185.24 million after six weeks of release. It remains on pace to hit $200 million over the Christmas break.

The Pyramid actually saw its theater count grow, for reasons I can't explain. It still fell 57% to $586,000 over the weekend for a ten-day total of $2.38 million. It would have needed to make about $2.38 million during its opening day to be a middling hit, but it would have needed to open truly wide for that to happen.


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Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Penguins of Madagascar, Big Hero 6, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Wild, The Pyramid, Top Five