“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” rolled up an impressive $117 million in its overseas opening this weekend.
“Battle of the Five Armies” drew 14.5 million admissions from nearly 15,000 screens in 37 foreign markets. The finale in Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth trilogy opens Wednesday in North America for Warner Bros. The first two films in “The Hobbit” franchise were major global hits, grossing $1.9 billion worldwide.
Germany was the highest-grossing territory for “Battle of the Five Armies” with $19.5 million, topping the debut of the previous film in the series, “The Desolation of Smaug,” by 15 percent and the first film, “An Unexpected Journey,” by 22 percent.
It brought in $15.5 million from the U.K. and $14.5 million in France, where it also beat the debuts of the two earlier films and was the biggest opening of the year for a U.S. movie. “Battle of the Five Armies” was just as impressive in Russia, where its $13.4 million debut topped the earlier “Hobbit” films despite opening on Thursday rather than Wednesday as they did.
“Battle of the Five Armies” brought in $6.4 million from 160 IMAX screens, for a very strong $40,000 per-screen average. It’s the best December release ever for IMAX, ahead of the $5 million taken in by “An Unexpected Journey.”
Fox’s “Exodus: Gods and Kings” rolled to $18.8 million from 28 foreign markets and lifted its international total to $50.2 million and its global total to $75 million. It opened at No. 1 in 13 markets, led by South Korea with $3.2 million.
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” crossed $600 million this weekend at the worldwide box office for Lionsgate after it added another $16 million from overseas, pushing the studio over the $1 billion mark at the global box office for the third consecutive year. Four weeks into its run, “Mockingjay” is up to $334 million at the foreign box office.
