‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ has only been out for two weeks and has already surpassed the $500 million mark in gross box office receipts worldwide.
The film is currently at $523.7 million in earnings worldwide and is still climbing. This is quite impressive considering ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ has currently earned a little over twice of that at $1.12 billion and that film was released almost a decade ago (the film is ranked 6th in worldwide gross earnings of all time.)
Domestically, the film made $179.7 million which may be reflected as a tad low considering the amount of buzz it received before its release. It’s opening box office numbers totaled $84 million but with the release of ‘Les Miserables’ and ‘Django Unchained,’ during its second week run, the numbers fell a whopping 56% with the film bringing in only $39.9 million – and that’s with the higher 3D ticket prices!
To put it in some perspective, ‘The Avengers’ earned $533 million domestically in the first 23 days of its release.
Internationally, the film has grossed $344 million and broke records in Australia by being the biggest Boxing Day opening and the third biggest opening of all time bringing in $6.1 million.
The press announcement was made by Toby Emmerich, President and Chief Operating Officer, New Line Cinema; Gary Barber, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios; Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures; and Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.
In making the announcement, Fellman stated, “We are extremely gratified by the response of moviegoers who love the film and, in many cases, are taking this terrifically entertaining ‘Journey’ to Middle-earth more than once. We anticipate that positive word of mouth and repeat viewings will continue to result in strong returns well into the New Year.”
Kwan Vandenberg said, “These fantastic box office numbers demonstrate that the film’s playability has no borders. Peter Jackson has created a truly global event with a film that thrills audiences in any language. Warner Bros. joins our partners at MGM and New Line in congratulating him, his cast and crew, and everyone involved in this film on this milestone.”
These numbers are sure to rise as movie goers ring in the New Year holiday at the theaters. Currently, ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ ranks 98 in all time worldwide gross earnings.
Source: CNBC
