Box office: 'The Hobbit' breaks December midnight record
Peter Jackson prequel is on pace to pass 'Return of the King's' opening
'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'
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Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" has finally finished making its journey to the big screen, and Middle Earth fans sure missed the director-co-writer's take on the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien.
The film, the first of three based on the slender 1937 tome "The Hobbit," picked up an estimated $13 million in midnight screenings in the U.S. on Thursday night. It's the best December midnight performance of all-time.
Opening on 3,100 theaters (it's adding nearly 1,000 more today), and aided by inflated IMAX, 3D and 48 fps ticket prices, "The Hobbit" is expected to gross somewhere between $80 million to $90 million for the weekend, which should easily pass the previous December champ -- the Will Smith's epic "I Am Legend," which scared up $77.2 million in 2007.
"The Return of the King," the last film in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, earned $8 million at midnight showings and $72 million over opening weekend in December of 2003.
"The Hobbit" takes place decades before the events in "LOTR," and stars Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, an features "LOTR" vets Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Christopher Lee, plus newcomers Richard Armitage and Benedict Cumberbatch.
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December 15, 2012 at 3:57AM EST Reply to CommentThe film was great. Who cares if it was turned from a short childrens book into a massive 3-part film. The only question that should matter is, was the film good? And how entertaining was it? Did it live up to LOTR... No... but who expected it to? The only complaint I had was the lack of character building with most of the dwarf's. I had no attachment to any of there characters, however, Bilbo Baggins played by Martin Freeman, was oscar worthy(imo) and extremely refreshing as compared to Elijah Wood's, Frodo Baggins. Ian Mckellan was in prime form and Andy Serkis has mastered the character of Gollum. The story was average at best, but will only get better as it continues and develops. This film solid all the way around. I think it just barely missed being a classic. 8.5 out of 10.
Dol Guldur Agreed. Though developing 13 dwarves are really hard. I'm impressed by the fact that Jackson managed to make them so awesome, considering how little we get to know about them in the book. So personally I found the dwarves much more interesting in the film than in the book.
December 15, 2012 at 10:00AM ESTDol Guldur
December 15, 2012 at 9:57AM EST Reply to CommentThough there were some parts that are clearly meant for the younger audience, the Hobbit is amazing. The critics have been blinded by LotR, and can't but compare it to the trilogy. Evn if the Hobbit isn't as magnificent as the best movies in history, doesn't automatically make it a bad movie. Shame on you, critics! Almost anyone who likes fantasy will love the Hobbit. The best fantasy movie in a long, long, long time!