The Hobbit Battles Its Way to the Top Box Office Spot

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies will be facing tough competition from Unbroken and Into the Woods this weekend, according to some box office analysts.

Phil Contrino, vice president and chief analyst at Boxoffice.com, gave his opinion on the how well he believes The Hobbit will do this holiday weekend versus the other movies mentioned above.

“I think they’ll give The Hobbit a run for its money. Either one could end up in first.”

The Hobbit came in as the winner with $41.4 million in its second weekend in theaters. Whether The Hobbit can come out that kind of success again will depend on whether fans will return for a second helping, and if those who haven’t seen it yet will go out this weekend for a viewing.

With New Year’s Day falling on a Thursday this year, the weekend is longer than usual with much of the movie going crowd on vacation all four days, giving them plenty of time to catch a showing of The Hobbit. Some die-hard fans may even manage two viewings.

Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Rentrak, says this time of year is perfect for The Hobbit’s release, not to mention, this is the last installment of the series.

“The Hobbit is a perfect Christmas movie. All of these Hobbit movies have opened in December and played well over the entire Christmas holiday. This final installment became a must-see movie event.”

One thing is for certain – the lack of Jamie Oliver’s appearance in the movie, who turned down a role as a hobbit as recently reported by the Inquisitor, hasn’t hindered The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies from performing well. It’s been reported The Hobbit has pulled in nearly $600 million domestically.

Brent Lang, writer for Variety, believes it could be a very close first place finish for The Hobbit if it ends up winning the box office. There are also other movies out now that may or may not divert part of an audience from The Hobbit. Some moviegoers may view Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Annie as more family friendly and see one of those instead. It’ll be interesting to see how The Hobbit stacks up this weekend.

Whether The Hobbit wins first place or not, it could very well end up in the top five biggest global blockbusters of 2014.

Do you think The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies will pull off another first place finish in the box office this weekend?

[Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.]