Battle at the Box Office 12/29

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies held off all comers over the Christmas weekend (which was also the biggest of the year) and took in another $41 million, dropping only 24% from last weekend.  It’s on par to get close to matching Desolation of Smaug’s overall take of $258 million.

Unbroken was a strong second place with $31.5 million.  It was the highest opening of the year for the World War II genre and fourth of all time, behind Inglourious Basterds.  Unbroken made $47 million for it’s four days out.

Into the Woods made $46 million for it’s four days out and $31 million for the weekend.  It’s slightly off from Les Miserables from last Christmas but it’s still the third highest opening weekend for a musical.

Night at the Museum 3 and Annie rounded out the top 5 and both got a bump from the holiday, with the former going up over 21% from last weekend’s mediocre debut.

The Gambler was a weak debut for Mark Wahlberg with only $9.3 million, just slightly above Broken City’s opening weekend and putting it 20th overall for the actor.  It’s also way down from director Rupert Wyatt’s last film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

The Imitation Game and Wild both expanded wide this past weekend, with the former earning a strong $7.93 million and with Oscar buzz, it should continue to hold steady.

Big Eyes on the other hand, failed to perform in it’s wide release, barely beating The Interview, which was cut down to just 311 theaters.  Big Eyes made $2.9 million for the weekend.

The aforementioned Interview made $1.8 million and also had one of the biggest ever VoD debuts, so the controversy may have helped a bit to raise the curiosity of the movie going public, although it’s still nowhere near what it probably would have made with a normal release.