UPDATED JANUARY 5: The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies maintained its hold over the North American box office into the first session of 2015, falling 47% in its third weekend on a confirmed $21.7m through Warner Bros for $220.6m.

Relativity opened its horror sequel The Woman In Black 2: Angel Of Death in fourth place on $15m from 2,602 theatres. This represents a 30% drop against the 2012 original when adjusted for inflation.

The Woman In Black opened in second place on $20.9m in 2,855 sites through CBS Films in February 2012, which translates to $21.5m when adjusted for inflation.

Sony Pictures expanded The interview from 331 to 581 independent theatres and the controversial comedy fell two places to number 18, adding $1.1m for $4.9m in its second weekend. Sony representatives did not update the online or VOD grosses.

Most of the remaining films in the top 10 maintained the order of last weekend. Disney’s Into The Woods and Universal’s Unbroken are holding well after two sessions. The former has reached $90.9m and the latter $87.7m.

The Imitation Game climbed one place to number seven in its sixth session and has added $7.8m for $30.5m through TWC. The drama expanded by seven to 754 theatres.

American Sniper continued to deliver heroics from four sites via Warner Bros, adding $676,909 for a $169,227 site average and $2.2m running total.

A24 opened A Most Violent Year on $172,788 from four venues for a strong $43,197 site average.

Overall box office for the top 12 dropped 28.4% against last weekend although it gained 4.8% on the same session in 2014, when Frozen held the nation in its grip.

This weekend’s wide release sees Liam Neeson return to action in EuropaCorp’s Taken 3 via Fox.

Confirmed top 10 North America Jan 2-4, 2015
Film (Dist) / Est wkd gross / Est total to date
(1) The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies (New Line-MGM) Warner Bros Pictures International $21.7m $220.6m
2 (2) Into The Woods (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $18.7m $90.9m
3 (3) Unbroken (Universal) UPI $18.2m $87.7m
4 (-) The Woman In Black 2: Angel Of Death (Relativity Media) Bloom $15m —
5 (4) Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb (Fox) Fox International $14.5m $89.8m
6 (5) Annie (Columbia Pictures) Sony Pictures Releasing International $11.3m $72.5m
7 (8) The Imitation Game (TWC) FilmNation $7.8m $30.5m
8 (6) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (Lionsgate) Lionsgate International $7.6m $323.7m
9 (7) The Gambler (Paramount) PPI $6.3m $27.6m
10 (11) Big Hero 6 (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $4.8m $211.2m

Topics