'Hobbit 2' Still Reigns at the Box Office, 'Anchorman 2' Stumbles (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioYVzQLYfMF3P9zKSNrUGCvMUVPC2eREeHlH0wGuB1Br_4fUxMjCLl5Jm7_p2HhZdXyZct1XSBaYEF1s3YrwC87e9UOfzSw-hgMYTLR5lSGIyMuqIyRC20c_isHLAYeaFdiHDYrhWZopo/s1600/131222-hobbit2-600x400-1387741640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioYVzQLYfMF3P9zKSNrUGCvMUVPC2eREeHlH0wGuB1Br_4fUxMjCLl5Jm7_p2HhZdXyZct1XSBaYEF1s3YrwC87e9UOfzSw-hgMYTLR5lSGIyMuqIyRC20c_isHLAYeaFdiHDYrhWZopo/s320/131222-hobbit2-600x400-1387741640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">WINNER OF THE WEEK: Baggins. <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug-20131212" style="color: #003366; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><em style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.012em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug</em></a> did what everyone expected it to do: It earned an estimated $31.5 million, falling 57 percent from last weekend's debut. Still, that was enough for the film to remain at Number One. So far, it's earned $127.5 million, which is well behind the $150.0 million that the previous <em style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.012em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Hobbit</em> installment earned over its first 10 days. Yet it still gets to enjoy bragging rights, not just for being on top for two weeks, but also for beating…</div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">LOSER OF THE WEEK: Burgundy. Pundits expected <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/anchorman-2-the-legend-continues-20131218" style="color: #003366; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues</em></a> to debut on top with a $40 million weekend. Instead, it opened with just an estimated $26.8 million for the weekend and a total of $40.0 million since its opening on Wednesday. The movie was massively hyped, but that may not have been enough to overcome a last-minute release-date shift and weak word-of-mouth (it earned just a B grade at CinemaScore).</div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Also underperforming was 3D toon <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Walking With Dinosaurs</em>. Expectations were already low for this one (about $8 or $9 million), since it would have to compete for the kiddie-toon dollar against the still-powerful <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Frozen</em> (Number Three this weekend, with an estimated $19.2 million). Even so, it premiered with just $7.3 million, debuting in eighth place.</div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">DO THE 'HUSTLE': Now that the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations are out and the Oscar race is in full swing, the awards hopefuls are starting to push and shove their way into the multiplex. In their second weeks, <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/american-hustle-20131212" style="color: #003366; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">American Hustle</em></a> and <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/saving-mr-banks-20131212" style="color: #003366; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Saving Mr. Banks</em></a> both added about 2,100 theaters and, as a result, crashed the top five. <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Hustle </em>took fourth place with an estimated $19.1 million (though with only a $63,000 gap between its estimate and <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Frozen's</em>, it's possible that <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Hustle</em> will rise to third place when final numbers are released on Monday). In fifth place, <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Banks</em> earned an estimated $9.3 million. (And, just because the top 10 needed more shaking up, debuting in ninth place was Bollywood action sequel <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dhoom 3</em>, earning an estimated $3.3 million on just 236 screens.)</div><div style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dhoom 3</em> averaged an impressive $14,004 per venue, but the biggest per-screen average of the weekend belonged to <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/her-20131218" style="color: #003366; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Her</em></a>. Spike Jonze's awards-appeal drama, about a man (Joaquin Phoenix) who falls in love with his smartphone's operating system (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), opened on just six screens but earned an estimated $258,000, for an average of $43,000. It's hard to imagine a movie as offbeat as <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Her</em> doing as well as <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">American Hustle</em> or <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Saving Mr. Banks</em>, but that's an awfully good start.</div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Follow us: <a href="http://ec.tynt.com/b/rw?id=bbJxak64Kr4kEzacwqm_6l&u=rollingstone" style="color: #003366; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">@rollingstone on Twitter</a> | <a href="http://ec.tynt.com/b/rf?id=bbJxak64Kr4kEzacwqm_6l&u=RollingStone" style="color: #003366; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">RollingStone on Facebook</a></span></div>

'Hobbit 2' Still Reigns at the Box Office, 'Anchorman 2' Stumbles (BLOG)

WINNER OF THE WEEK: Baggins.  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug  did what everyone expected it to do: It earned an estimated $31.5 million...

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