As for the other Christmas Day openers, the results were all over the map. The Mark Wahlberg drama The Gambler had a decent opening weekend, coming in seventh with $9.3 million, and $14.3 million since Thursday. With mixed reviews, a lot of competition and little awards buzz, that is a fine number for the film, which was budgeted at just $25 million. In comparison, The Fighter made $12.1 million on its opening weekend in 2010, and that film boasted better reviews and Oscar potential.
Meanwhile, it was a weekend of nice and naughty results for The Weinstein Company. On one hand, The Imitation Game had a fantastic expansion into semi-wide release, grossing $7.9 million from only 747 theaters (and $11 million since Thursday). The biopic had an even more impressive holiday take than The King’s Speech, which earned only $7.5 million in its first four days of wide release (also starting from Christmas Day). With a $14.6 million total so far, the film has a long road at the box office ahead, as a Best Picture nomination seems within its grasp.
On the other hand, Tim Burton’s Big Eyes finished way outside of the Top 10, earning just $3 million over the weekend (and $4.4 million since Thursday). The awards contender finished in 15th place and could not generate much excitement, despite the presence of Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. The poor gross will not help its Oscar campaign.
The news was better for two other awards contenders, Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper and Ava DuVernay’s Selma, which had terrific weekends in only a handful of theaters. American Sniper grossed a stupefying $610,000 over the weekend (and $850,000 since Thursday) from just four cinemas. The war thriller starring Bradley Cooper earned a much stronger per-theater average than War on Terror-related films Lone Survivor and Zero Dark Thirty. Like those hit titles, American Sniper will expand to wide release in January (on the 16th, to be precise). Meanwhile, the Best Picture contender about Martin Luther King, Jr. grossed $590,000 from only 19 theaters (and $910,000 since its Christmas Day opening). With excellent reviews and awards buzz, Selma should be a strong earner when it opens more widely on Jan. 9th.
As for The Interview, the results were good, although not as spectacular as the pre-release buzz would have indicated. After a week of nonstop coverage since Sony Pictures decided to shelve the controversial Seth Rogen comedy and then re-open it in select cities, the film could have had a dazzling per-theater average. With $1.8 million from 331 theaters, the comedy did not disappoint, especially since it was also widely available for download off of several websites for a smaller price. However, with so much hype and press surrounding the opening, one expected it would have played to sold-out crowds all weekend. So far, it has earned $2.9 million since Christmas Day.
Here are the numbers for the Top 10 films at the North American box office for the weekend of December 26 through 28, 2014:
1. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – $41.4 million ($168.5 million total)
2. Unbroken – $31.7 million ($47.3 million total)
3. Into the Woods – $31 million ($46.1 million total)
4. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb – $20.6 million ($55.3 million total)
5. Annie – $16.6 million ($45.8 million total)
6. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – $10 million ($306.7 million total)
7. The Gambler – $9.3 million ($14.3 million total)
8. The Imitation Game – $7.9 million ($14.6 million total)
9. Exodus: Gods and Kings – $6.8 million ($52.5 million)
10. Wild – $5.4 million ($16.4 million total)
NOTE: These numbers are weekend estimates based on Friday and Saturday’s estimated takes. Actual numbers for the three-day weekend are reported on Monday afternoon.