ABOVE: Watch a trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
LOS ANGELES — Audiences had their pick of genres during the Christmas weekend, but despite a host of fresh arrivals, splashy holiday fare like Unbroken and Into the Woods proved no match for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
The Interview, meanwhile, wowed with $15 million from its over 2 million online rentals and purchases.
The final installment in Peter Jackson’s trilogy marched to the top spot once again with an estimated $41.4 million take across the weekend ($54.5 including Christmas day earnings), according to studio estimates Sunday.
World War II epic Unbroken took second place with $31.7 million from the weekend, bringing its domestic total to $47.3 million from its first four days in theaters.
Musical Into the Woods, boasting a star-packed cast, came in a close third with $31 million, and $46.1 million across the four-day period. It replaced Mamma Mia as the biggest opening for a screen adaptation of a Broadway musical ever.
The rest of the top five was populated by holdovers Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Annie and which earned $20.6 million and $16.6 million, respectively, in their second weekend in theaters.
Controversial made-in-B.C. comedy The Interview earned $15 million from online rentals and purchases through Saturday. The movie took in $2.8 million from 331 theaters since its opening on Thursday, and $1.8 million of that came from the weekend.
“I’m so grateful that the movie found its way into theaters, and I’m thrilled that people actually went out and saw it,” said writer, director and star Seth Rogen in a statement.
In just four days, The Interview became Sony’s most successful online film of all time.
Other weekend debuts include the $25 million crime drama The Gambler, which took seventh place with a middling $9.3 million. Big Eyes earned only $2.97 million over the weekend and $4.4 million from the four-day. The haul is a career low for director Tim Burton compared with his other wide-release openings.
In limited release, Clint Eastwood’s fact-based Iraq war drama American Sniper opened in four locations, taking in a phenomenal $610,000.
Ava DuVernay’s Martin Luther King Jr. drama Selma, meanwhile, opened in 19 locations to $590,000 over the three-day weekend. The film expands nationwide on Jan. 9.
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