Peter Jackson’s final trip to Middle Earth, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, scored a huge $117.6m opening at the worldwide box office this weekend, despite not having yet opened in north America.
The total from 38 countries compares favourably to the $135.4m taken by previous instalment The Desolation of Smaug this time last year, the latter film having opened in 49 countries. Jackson’s earlier film went on to take more than $958m at the global box office, with its predecessor The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey having taken just over $1bn.
The Battle of the Five Armies was No 1 in Germany, where it took $19.5m, the UK with $15.2m and France with $14.5m. In Russia it took $13.4m, the largest ever opening for a film from studio Warner Bros in the country. Jackson’s film is due to open in the US on Wednesday, 17 December.
The Battle of the Five Armies has scored decent reviews and currently holds a rating of 70% “fresh” on the critical aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Smaug did slightly better, with a 74% rating, while An Unexpected Journey scored 64%. Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw labelled the new film “something terrifically exciting and spectacular, genial and rousing, with all the cheerful spirit of Saturday morning pictures” in his review.
