The Hobbit: AUJ box office

Post by **Frelga** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 7:01 pm

I wonder if the miserable weather over the Christmas weekend had anything to do with the drop off in numbers. Rain may be good for movies, but heavy snow is something else. (as I vaguely remember

)

Post by **Holbytla** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 7:08 pm

If a movie is good, the general population will talk about it and people will go see it.

While I liked the Hobbit, I am not in the general population, nor do I think it was a particularly fantastic movie or anything new and exciting that would cause tongues to wag and people to flock to the cinemas.

One or two movies would have sufficed. Turning the Hobbit into an epic film series is probably more than the general public has an appetite for. Historically, prequels are a tough sell as it is without the bloat of an overly expanded story.

Post by **Elentári** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 10:44 pm

sauronsfinger wrote: For me, the film never made up its mind if it wanted to be a kids films or an adult film. And that has hurt it in terms of reviews, in terms of word of mouth, in terms of repeat viewings, and even in terms of acceptance within the industry. It is neither fish nor fowl and please few who want it to be.

That is a major factor, IMO. PJ tried to please the fans by both keeping the lighter, humorous tone of the novel, and adding in the darker elements of the DG storyline and Dwarven history to match the feel of LotR...and on top of all this we get the crowd-pleasing SFX and regulation burping/lame humour. In many respects it just comes off as a mess - trying to please everyone and ending up pleasing - well, not exactly no one, but dividing not only between critics and fans: the fans seem divided in opinion as well.

Post by **Elentári** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 11:01 pm

Update on figures from Hollywood Reporter:

Holiday Box Office: 'The Hobbit' Reclaims No. 1 Spot With $10.1 Mil, 'Les Mis' No. 2

Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" earns another $26 million internationally, pushing its worldwide cume to $562.8 million; Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" holds steady at No. 3 in North America.

ETA: It is currently the 10th biggest film of the year...I've seen estimates that it will finish in 5th with around $850 million. It can't really go any higher than 4th, unless it can top Skyfall's $979 million. Similar to AUJ, Skyfall doesn't open in China until early in the New Year.

Fri Dec 28, 2012 11:09 pm

Well, perhaps reports of its demise are premature.

Post by **Holbytla** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 12:02 am

Oh the Hobbit will make lots of money. Just not the zillions that the studios were hoping for.

Post by **sauronsfinger** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 2:08 pm

HOBBIT made a very strong comeback

FRIDAY 12 PM, 9TH UPDATE: This film trio should stay on top through the rest of the holidays. MGM/Warner Bros’ The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey made $10.1M Thursday to bring it back to #1 and its domestic cume to $189.7M. Coming off of a strong Boxing Day internationally, Thursday continued to deliver huge numbers generating an estimated $26M from 62 territories, an increase of 34% over last week. Pic continues to rank #1 in key markets and across the world, and the overseas cume to date now stands at $373M. Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth epic is approaching $563M worldwide total. Dropping from #1 to #2 is Working Title/Universal’s Les Misérables which grossed $9.1M Thursday for $39.4M domestic in its first three days of release. Musical grossed $3.8M internationally on Thursday to raise its overseas total to $32.2M.

It should stay number one at least through the next week and it looks like 800 mil is the rock bottom floor.

Post by **sauronsfinger** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 4:36 pm

Elentári wrote:
sauronsfinger wrote: For me, the film never made up its mind if it wanted to be a kids films or an adult film. And that has hurt it in terms of reviews, in terms of word of mouth, in terms of repeat viewings, and even in terms of acceptance within the industry. It is neither fish nor fowl and please few who want it to be.
That is a major factor, IMO. PJ tried to please the fans by both keeping the lighter, humorous tone of the novel, and adding in the darker elements of the DG storyline and Dwarven history to match the feel of LotR...and on top of all this we get the crowd-pleasing SFX and regulation burping/lame humour. In many respects it just comes off as a mess - trying to please everyone and ending up pleasing - well, not exactly no one, but dividing not only between critics and fans: the fans seem divided in opinion as well.

That pretty much describes my feelings on it. While I enjoyed it greatly, it simply was not on the same level as the LOTR films for the reason you have cited.

My hope is that PJ learns and in the next eleven months takes proper steps to correct these errors turning SMAUG into a much better film.

Post by **Alatar** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:12 pm

sauronsfinger wrote: One side note: and perhaps Alatar can chime in on this as well.... the fever pitch of collectors in acquiring items associated with the film has just not been there with this film. Not to mention there simply is a whole lot less of it - as if producers expected this.

I wonder if that was a canary in the mine?

Personally I've just been there and done that already. I don't have the room for a whole new collection of Hobbit Memorabilia, and besides, I prefer LotR. The Hobbit was never going to have the same impact on me cause I simply don't adore the book the way I do Lord of the Rings.

Post by **Pearly Di** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:18 pm

I feel similarly to Al.

I've now seen the film twice

and I certainly intend to see it at least twice more.

. Whilst I enjoy it, moments of PJ-silliness notwithstanding, it does not have the same immersive impact on me that PJ's LotR did. The experience is not nearly so emotional, not by a long shot.

I will say this though: Martin's wonderful Bilbo is the film Hobbit characterisation to rule them all.

Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:02 pm

Whereas I, while not rating The Hobbit as high as LOTR (or 'The Silmarillion'), probably have stronger feelings about it than either of you. Fortunately, much of what I love about the book, the filmmakers did a pretty good job capturing, or beginning to capture (since we have only seen one-third of the film so far.

Meanwhile, as expected the film was again No. 1 yesterday, passing $200 million domestically and $600 million internationally.+

Post by **sauronsfinger** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:43 am

Alatar wrote:
sauronsfinger wrote: One side note: and perhaps Alatar can chime in on this as well.... the fever pitch of collectors in acquiring items associated with the film has just not been there with this film. Not to mention there simply is a whole lot less of it - as if producers expected this.

I wonder if that was a canary in the mine?
Personally I've just been there and done that already. I don't have the room for a whole new collection of Hobbit Memorabilia, and besides, I prefer LotR. The Hobbit was never going to have the same impact on me cause I simply don't adore the book the way I do Lord of the Rings.

That pretty much describes my feelings also. And it seems we are far from alone on this.

Post by **axordil** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:55 pm

I still want Orcrist.

But I really want it *with* that excellent scabbard.

Post by **Padme** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:06 am

Pearly Di wrote:I feel similarly to Al.

I've now seen the film twice and I certainly intend to see it at least twice more. . Whilst I enjoy it, moments of PJ-silliness notwithstanding, it does not have the same immersive impact on me that PJ's LotR did. The experience is not nearly so emotional, not by a long shot.

I will say this though: Martin's wonderful Bilbo is the film Hobbit characterisation to rule them all.

Pretty much sums up how I feel. I liked it a lot, but the impact wasn't there. Which maybe due to the story itself, since it is a children's story and doesn't have the same meatiness as LoTR. The movie was visually stunning and very fun to watch, but there were no big emotional heart strings pulled in it, and when I left the theater I was a bit let down that I have to wait for the next movie. I don't remember the let down from walking out of the FoTR or TT as much, even though I knew the story was continuing.

And as much as I loved Martin's Bilbo, Day-Lewis's Lincoln blew him out of the water acting wise. Of course I am still mad at Daniel for not wanting to be Aragorn, even though I love Viggo as Aragorn.

Post by **Túrin Turambar** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:35 am

With all due respect to Day-Lewis, I'd suggest that Abraham Lincoln might provide a skilled character actor with a bit more to work with drama-wise than Bilbo Baggins

.

Post by **Elentári** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 11:12 pm

'The Hobbit' stays atop box office for third week

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" continues to rule them all at the box office, staying on top for a third-straight week and capping a record-setting $10.8 billion year in moviegoing.

The Warner Bros. fantasy epic from director Peter Jackson, based on the beloved J.R.R. Tolkien novel, made nearly $33 million this weekend, according to Sunday studio estimates, despite serious competition from some much-anticipated newcomers. It's now made a whopping $686.7 million worldwide and $222.7 million domestically alone.

Post by **sauronsfinger** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 11:18 pm

Elentári wrote:'The Hobbit' stays atop box office for third week

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" continues to rule them all at the box office, staying on top for a third-straight week and capping a record-setting $10.8 billion year in moviegoing.

The Warner Bros. fantasy epic from director Peter Jackson, based on the beloved J.R.R. Tolkien novel, made nearly $33 million this weekend, according to Sunday studio estimates, despite serious competition from some much-anticipated newcomers. It's now made a whopping $686.7 million worldwide and $222.7 million domestically alone.

Its made quite the comeback after losing the top spot to LES MIZ for a scant two days. I notice boxofficemojo is now not discounting the billion dollar mark. Apparently the opening in Australia was amazing and its doing very very well in Russia.

Post by **Elentári** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 12:32 am

Apparently in comparison to LotR, HOBBIT had a much better 3rd weekend drop because its 3rd weekend was the post Christmas weekend when holidays are in full swing. The LotRs had the post Christmas weekend on their 2nd weekend, which is why their 2nd weekend drops were so good.

According to Shadowdog on TORN, AUJ is at 220 million after 17 days, while RoTK was at 272 million after 17 days...

Post by **sauronsfinger** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:34 pm

I wonder how much multiple return viewings added to the box office for the LOTR films and how much it will benefit this one? I know that I saw all three of them on an average of a dozen times each in the theater. I have seen HOBBIT twice and probably will see it one more time.

You have to wonder how many other people like this are out there?

Post by **Elentári** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:44 pm

Well...I've actually seen AUJ more times than I saw any of the original trilogy in theatres - but that's down to my having a much younger family 11 years ago (& being heavily pregnant when TTT was released!)

Plus, with AUJ being available in so many different formats, punters are curious to see the difference. I still plan to try and see AUJ in 2D before the end of its run.

Are you planning to see it at 48fps, sf? I'm curious to hear what your experience of the higher frame rate will be!