It was close and Anchorman 2 did well but it just couldnt beat Desolation of Smog. Anchorman 2 was the highest first week film over the weekend. It doubled the other 2 films in the top 10 (Walking with Dinosaurs & Dhoom 3). Anchorman actually opened on Wednesday, which bumps up its earniings from $26 million ot $40 million. Solid opening, only $2 million behind the first film.
- The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug: The second of the planned trilogy did well, earning $31.4 million. That’s a 57% drop from last week but it’s keeping pace with the first Hobbit well enough.
- Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues: $26.7 million with some stiff competetion coming Wednesday. Kind of a weird time to open for this movie.
- Frozen: Word of mouth is keeping this movie strong, earning $19.1 million over it’s 4th real weekend.
- American Hustle: Mr David “Oscars please” Russell’s newest earned a solid $19.1 million. “The Fighter” and “Silver Linings Playbook” both went on to solid earnings and longs so I expect the same.
- Saving Mr. Banks: At $9.3 million in its first week of wide release, this movie is a bit of a dissapointment. I think the scheduling was bad and the marketing a bit weak. It should have good word of mouth but I don’t think it’s going to hit that $100 million “success” mark.
Christmas day has 4 movies opening in wide release and over the weekend a few more but few seem like solid contenders. “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” will be the big hitters and I’m expecting “47 Ronin” and “Grudge Match” to dissapoint and over the weekend “Lone Survivor” to fail.