"Anchorman 2" Was No Match for "Smaug" This Weekend

[JamesG]

Weekend Report: Burgundy Beaten by Bilbo
by Ray Subers
December 22, 2013


Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues had a solid debut this weekend, though it wasn't strong enough to take first place away from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Among the other new releases, American Hustle got off to a great start, while Saving Mr. Banks and Walking with Dinosaurs disappointed.

Overall, it was a very good weekend at the box office—the Top 12 earned $137.3 million, which is up a whopping 37 percent from the same weekend last year. Unless all five Christmas Day releases bomb, the 2013 box office is now guaranteed to top last year's $10.84 billion record.







In its second weekend in theaters, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug added an estimated $31.4 million. That's off 57 percent from last weekend, which is identical to the first Hobbit's drop at the same point.

Smaug has so far earned $127.5 million, which is off 15 percent from the first movie's pace.







Playing at 3,507 locations, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues opened to $26.8 million this weekend. That's below the first Anchorman's $28.4 million debut, though it's not an apples-to-apples comparison: Anchorman 2 burned off some demand with a Wednesday start, and opening weekends in December are historically much lower than those in July (when the first movie opened).

For the five-day frame, Anchorman 2 earned an estimated $40 million. Both of the Meet the Parents sequels also opened on the Wednesday before Christmas — Meet the Fockers brought in $70.5 million, while Little Fockers earned $45.1 million.



Anchorman's opening was generally in line with Paramount's expectations, though it does seem like the movie should have done a bit better. It definitely wasn't an awareness problem: thanks to relentless, unavoidable marketing, the average moviegoer absolutely knew that the Channel 4 news team was back on the big screen this weekend.

Instead, the slightly underwhelming debut can be chalked up to a few factors. First, the fanbase for the original probably isn't as broad as originally thought: the audience this weekend was 62 percent male, which is an unusually high number for a comedy.

Also, while there were plenty of advertisements, they relied too heavily on a few jokes (in particular, Brick with the green screen was used ad nauseum).



It's important to remember that movies that open on the weekends before Christmas tend to have lower-than-expected openings before playing well through the holidays.

Even with a disappointing "B" CinemaScore, it's still possible that Anchorman 2 hangs on well over the next two weeks, and a final total north of $120 million is likely.







In its fourth weekend, Disney Animation's Frozen eased 15 percent to $19.5 million, which is more than newcomers Saving Mr. Banks and Walking with Dinosaurs earned combined.

Frozen has now grossed $191.6 million, which is ahead of Wreck-It Ralph ($189.4 million) and only a bit behind Tangled ($200.8 million). It now looks like Frozen will be the go-to movie for family audiences over the holiday season, and it could be on its way to over $300 million by the end of its run.







After a week in limited release, David O. Russell's star-studded American Hustle expanded to 2,507 locations and earned a fantastic $19.1 million.

In comparison, Russell's The Fighter took in $12.1 million when it expanded on the same weekend in 2010. With a handful of Oscar nominations on the way, it's a foregone conclusion that this closes north of $100 million.







Saving Mr. Banks also expanded nationwide, though it only mustered $9.3 million from 2,110 locations. That's worse than Charlie Wilson's War ($9.7 million), which opened on the same weekend in 2007 and also had Tom Hanks portraying a historical figure.

With an "A" CinemaScore and an audience of older women (57 percent female, 61 percent 35 years of age and up), Banks should hold better than Charlie Wilson ($66.7 million), though $100 million is now out of the question.







The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has now earned $371.8 million, which ranks second in 2013 ahead of Despicable Me 2 ($367.5 million).

The blockbuster sequel remains on pace to earn over $400 million by the end of its run.







In eighth place, Walking with Dinosaurs opened to a very poor $7.3 million. That's less than half of Yogi Bear's debut at the same time in 2010.

Dinosaurs will be a solid choice for families over the Christmas holiday, though it's unlikely it earns much more than $50 million or so.







At just 236 locations, Dhoom 3 set a new Bollywood record with $3.3 million.

While Bollywood movies tend to be very front-loaded, there's a chance that the holidays help Dhoom 3 ultimately get past $10 million.







Spike Jonze's Her opened at six theaters this weekend and earned a solid $258,000. That translates to a $43,000 per-theater average.

The well-reviewed sci-fi romance expands in to 47 locations on Christmas Day, and is expected to go nationwide on January 10th.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3765&p=.htm









December 20-22, 2013 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug $31,455,000 / $127,500,000
2. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues $26,776,000 / $40,000,000
3. Frozen $19,163,000 / $191,555,000
4. American Hustle $19,100,000 / $20,200,000
5. Saving Mr. Banks $9,321,000 / $9,947,000
6. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire $8,750,000 / $371,704,000
7. Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas $8,510,000 / $28,280,000
8. Walking with Dinosaurs $7,300,000
9. Dhoom 3 $3,305,000
10. Thor: The Dark World $1,328,000 / $200,766,000