The final movie of The Hobbit franchise, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, made it passed $350 million mark at the box office over its first few days in release. The last trip to Middle Earth for Peter Jackson and crew collected $$265 million internationally and $90.63 million domestically, according to New Line Cinema and MGM.
IMAX reports The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies set a December record for the biggest opening of an IMAX release at $13.62 million. That figure’s also the biggest IMAX total for any of the three films of The Hobbit trilogy. And the final Hobbit also earned the biggest IMAX opening numbers of all time in the UK, Austria, and Germany.
In conventional theaters, this final action-adventure movie to feature J.R.R. Tolkien’s hobbits, dwarves, elves, and orcs is now the record holder for the biggest opening day of 2014 in Germany, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Spain, Germany, Russia, Holland, Switzerland, Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia. In addition, it’s Warner Bros Pictures’ biggest opening in Russia, Serbia and Ukraine.
“For Peter Jackson, the adventure that began with his benchmark The Lord of the Rings Trilogy has reached a high water mark with this incredible response to the epic finale of The Hobbit Trilogy,” said Toby Emmerich, President and Chief Operating Officer, New Line Cinema, commenting on The Battle of Five Armies‘ opening numbers. “Along with our colleagues at Warner Bros. and MGM, we congratulate Peter on this exciting conclusion to his 16-year endeavor to bring this enduring saga to life for millions of moviegoers all over the world.”
And Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures said, “This is an extraordinary start for our final adventure in Middle-earth. We are excited by the enthusiasm of moviegoers, who have already made The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies a blockbuster, and this is just the beginning. We expect word of mouth to continue to drive the box office through the holiday season and well into the new year.”
Domestically, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies opened in theaters on December 17, 2014. The cast is led by Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, and Richard Armitage, and includes Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Benedict Cumberbatch, Billy Connolly, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Aidan Turner, Dean O’Gorman, Graham McTavish, Stephen Fry, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Mikael Persbrandt, Sylvester McCoy, Peter Hambleton, John Callen, Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, William Kircher, Stephen Hunter, Adam Brown, John Bell, Manu Bennett, and John Tui.
The Plot:
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies brings to an epic conclusion the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and the Company of Dwarves. Having reclaimed their homeland from the Dragon Smaug, the Company has unwittingly unleashed a deadly force into the world. Enraged, Smaug rains his fiery wrath down upon the defenseless men, women and children of Lake-town.
Obsessed above all else with his reclaimed treasure, Thorin sacrifices friendship and honor to hoard it as Bilbo’s frantic attempts to make him see reason drive the Hobbit towards a desperate and dangerous choice. But there are even greater dangers ahead. Unseen by any but the Wizard Gandalf, the great enemy Sauron has sent forth legions of Orcs in a stealth attack upon the Lonely Mountain.
As darkness converges on their escalating conflict, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide – unite or be destroyed. Bilbo finds himself fighting for his life and the lives of his friends in the epic Battle of the Five Armies, as the future of Middle-earth hangs in the balance.
Watch the trailer:
