Weekend Projections: Hobbit Top But Frozen Most Impressive
December 29, 2013
The Hobbit will extend its run at the top of the chart to three weekends, according to studio estimates released on Sunday, but Frozen is the real winner, with a 47% increase in box office from last weekend (the second-best in the top 10 behind Saving Mr. Banks), and a new entry in the record books as the second-most-successful film in its 6th weekend in theaters -- only Avatar tops it.
The rest of the chart is a mess of new releases enjoying varying degrees of success.
Top among the debutants is The Wolf of Wall Street, which will post a very respectable $18.5 million or so on its first weekend. Like all major new releases, it opened on Christmas Day.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty isn't performing quite as well, but $13 million is a decent enough beginning and it should have good legs.
47 Ronin is weaker, at $9.9 million from 2,689 theaters, and will register a significant loss for Universal. It's far from the worst of the new releases though. Grudge Match doesn't have that dubious honor, but $7.3 million this weekend and $13.4 million since it opened is a dismal performance for this time of year and leaves it in 11th place on the chart. The weakest of the new releases, though, is Justin Bieber's Believe, which will limp to $2 million over the weekend, for a total a little over $4 million after five days, and something around 14th place overall.
As usual, art-house releases are also doing well on the last weekend of the year. Lone Survivor is performing best of all with $90,000 plus from just two theaters. August: Osage County isn't far behind, with a projected $180,000 or so from five venues. Also in the $10,000 club are Her with $645,000 expected from 47 locations and The Invisible Woman with $37,149 from three.
Bruce Nash bruce.nash@the-numbers.com
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, 47 Ronin, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Wolf of Wall Street, Lone Survivor, August: Osage County, Frozen, Saving Mr. Banks, Grudge Match, The Invisible Woman