The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies took the No 1 spot at the US box office at the weekend, beating off strong competition from star-studded musical fantasy Into the Woods and second world war drama Unbroken with a haul of $21.9m (£19m) in its third week of release.
Peter Jackson’s final trip to JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth also passed the $200m mark at the north American box office, where it has now taken $220.8m. Globally, the third Hobbit movie’s haul now stands at a gargantuan $722.8m as of the weekend.
Into the Woods, Rob Marshall’s adaptation of the hit Stephen Sondheim musical, landed in second with another $19.1m in its second week. The fantasy, which stars James Corden, Emily Blunt, Johnny Depp, Anna Kendrick, Meryl Streep and Chris Pine as an assortment of fairytale figures, now has a total haul of $91.2m in north America.
Unbroken, Angelina Jolie’s film about second-world-war pilot Louis Zamperini’s fight for survival in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps, continued to defy expectations with another $18.4m in its second week of release. Jolie’s second film as director has now taken $87.8m in north America and $94.6m worldwide.
The only new film to hit the top 10 this week was the British horror sequel Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death, which landed in fourth with $15.1m. The follow-up to Hammer’s huge 2012 box office hit The Woman in Black (the highest-grossing UK horror for 20 years with $127.7m worldwide) sees Phoebe Fox replacing Daniel Radcliffe as the new visitor to haunted Eel Marsh House. The top five was rounded out by Ben Stiller fantasy sequel Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, with another $14.5m in its third week for a north American total of $89.7m.
Despite expanding to 581 cinemas across north America, the controversial Seth Rogen comedy The Interview failed to make the top 10 in its second week of release. Likely to be struggling owing to a concurrent release via video on demand, the Kim Jong-un-baiting film took only $1.1m for a total of $4.8m.
North American box office top 10, 2-4 January
1. The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, $21.9m, $220.8m
2. Into the Woods, $19.1m, $91.2m
3. Unbroken, $18.4m, $87.8m
4. The Woman in Black 2: The Angel of Death, $15.1m – new
5. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, $14.5m, $89.7m
6. Annie, $11.4m, $72.6m
7. The Imitation Game, $8.1m, $30.8m
8. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, $7.7m, $323.9m
9. The Gambler, $1.4m, $27.6m
10. Big Hero 6, $4.8m, $211.3m
