Oh, that was a fun heading to write!
Not that I really had much to do. How often do you get a weekend box office wrap-up report that can write itself like this particular weekend? Thank you, Disney and Buona Vista, Lionsgate and Relativity Studios!
With the cold snap currently being experienced throughout the United States, I wonder if it wasn’t an omen of sorts for the top grossing film at the box office this weekend?
Make the jump and find out what’s what with the prognostications!
As expected, Frozen was indeed the number one film this weekend with a solid $31.6 million take. In its third week of release, it’s garnered over $134 million in receipt totals, closing in on its $150 million budget – something it should get through without any real problems. More importantly, it was able to temporarily stomp out the flames of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which finished in second place with $27 million. As the sequel to the original Hunger Games, Catching Fire has shown incredible interest and made some fantastic coin from theatregoers. With $336.6 million made domestically, and $673 million internationally, the firs does indeed still rise for this film trilogy (with the third chapter, due next November, split between two films, naturally).
If there was any heat emanating from the debut weekend release of Out of the Furnace (and you’d think there would be as the revenge flick stars Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck and Zoe Saldana among others), it was stomped out enthusiastically by Frozen. Out of the Furnace made only a disappointing $5.3 million and the studio is now hoping it’ll make back its relatively small budget of $22 million in rentals and DVD/Blu-Ray sales. I mean, c’mon! It’s got Bale in it – even if it does have an unfortunately lousy title.
Rounding out the top five are Thor: The Dark World, still holding a heavy hammer, and the Vince Vaughan comedy, Delivery Man.
So, to recap, here were the predictions:
1) Frozen – $35 million
2) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – $32 million
3) Out Of The Furnace – $6.9 million
4) Thor: The Dark World – $5.5 million
5) Homefront – $4 million
And here’s how the weekend actually turned out:
1) Frozen – $31.6 million
2) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – $27 million
3) Out of the Furnace – $5.3 million
4) Thor: The Dark World – 4.7 million
5) Delivery Man – 3.7 million
Not too bad, all things considered.
This coming week sees a film many fans have been clamouring to see for the past year: The Hobbit 2: The Desolation of Smaug. It’ll be interesting to see how much money it brings in as each successive chapter of The Lord of the Rings series brought more than the preceding film. Running in over 3,900 theatres (including 3D, IMAX, AVX, HFR, ATMOS and every other possible iteration) the dragon-chaptered epic looks to breathe fire all over Frozen and the rest of the competition which includes regrettably scheduled films: A Madea Christmas, American Hustle and Saving Mr. Banks.
Be here at the end of the week to check out our predictions!
