Weekend Box Office: 'The Hobbit' Rings Up a Big Tally

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies opened to a massive $90.6 million in North America, while Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Annie both suffered soft starts as the crucial year-end holidays got underway.

Five Armies prospered in its five-day debut, including a weekend tally of $56.2 million. Box-office comparisons to the previous Hobbit films aren’t exactly parallel as the first two came out on Fridays, but The Desolation of Smaug launched to $73.6 million last year, while An Unexpected Journey opened to $84.6 million in 2012.

From New line and MGM, Five Armies appeared to make life impossible for Fox’s Secret of the Tomb and Annie, which is Sony’s lone holiday release now that The Interview has been pulled from its Dec. 25 slot.

Secret of the Tomb, reteaming director Shawn Levy and Ben Stiller, opened to a troubled $17.3 million, a franchise low, while Annie came in at $16.3 million. If there’s any solace, it’s that December openings can have stronger multiples because of the year-end holidays. Secret of the Tomb came in No. 2, followed by Annie.

The hack-embattled Sony needs a win, and says it couldn’t be happier with Annie's performance. The adaptation of the iconic Broadway musical stars Quvenzhane Wallis and Jamie Foxx and was produced by Will Smith and Jay-Z.

"This is an incredible start for us on a very crowded weekend, and sets us up beautifully for the holidays," said Josh Greenstein, Sony’s newly installed president of worldwide marketing and distribution. “Annie is a big win for the studio. We stayed focused and rallied around this film to get it out into the world.”

But Annie isn’t the only holiday musical targeting families. On Christmas Day, Disney’s Into the Woods opens.

Annie, earning a favorable A- CinemaScore, did open in line with pre-release tracking. Secret of the Tomb, however, came in well behind expectations.

Some question whether there has been too long of a gap between the threequel and the last installment, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, which debuted to $70 million over the long Memorial Day weekend in 2009. The first Night at the Museum film debuted to $30.4 million when it opened in December 2006.

Elsewhere, Fox and Chernin Entertainment’s Exodus: Gods and Kings tumbled a steep 67 percent in its second weekend to $8.1 million for a troubled domestic total of $38.9 million. Ridley Scottdirected the biblical epic, starring Christian Bale as Moses.

Exodus placed No. 4, followed by The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 with $7.8 million for a domestic cume of $289.2 million.

Reese Witherspoon-starrer Wild, which expanded nationwide over the weekend, climbed up the chart to No. 6, earning a pleasing $4.2 million for an early domestic total of $7.2 million for Fox Searchlight.