The same applies. A film that makes $700m+ worldwide is generally considered to be a good performance.

FOTR finished second in 2001.

The Hobbit finally get's a release in Australia (Boxing Day). 9 years has past and it's just so wonderful to be back in Middle Earth.

I just got back from a 2pm afternoon session (3D regular 24fps) in Melbourne Central and it was about 90% full with only the front rows empty. The Hobbit has the most showings per day (almost 3x Les Mis I would say) and is controlling all the large screens. It's 2D showings at this cinema (mostly smaller screens) are Sold Out or pretty close. The night sessions are not yet sold out (running at about 75% at the momment). When I left the showing at around 5:15pm, I didn't see any long lines (people may be occupied with shopping or taking a breather in prep for the night out); hoping walk up business would pick up. I'm not sensing the crazy atmosphere or strong walk-ups like I remembered for LOTRs, but here's hoping the increase screens/showtimes and ticket prices will bolster its gross. The LOTR record is held by ROTK with just over AU$5.2m on a Friday. I'm thinking this may do AU$5-7m Wednesday (FOTR did about AU$4m+ on Wed).

After hearing all the early mixed reviews on 48fps (or High-Frame-Rate HFR), I decided to watch it in regular 3D first. The next time will definately be HFR.

I'm overjoyed with this movie. I think it truly delivered and for me, felt so much of the quality of LOTRs. In fact, 15 mins into the movie I was already thinking we're going to be in for a fun ride. . I really liked the interwoven prologue and flashbacks, it just makes the story so much richer and some scenes there were just mind-blowing (and I would say, amongst the best action/battle scenes we've seen in LOTR if not of any blockbuster). When it comes to the action shots, as a movie, this tops all previous LOTRs movie. It may not have the OMG momments such as Gandalf charging down the mountain at Helms Deep, March of the Ents, Gandalf blasting the Nazgul with light...etc...it has the consistency and drive. Considering the source material I think PJ and the team have done a magnificent job. Once again, PJ knows best, i can't possibly imagine now how they could have done this in one movie (the only thing now being whether 3's too much or is 2 just not enough....we'll soon find out, but i'm quite optimistic).

I can see why some people may have an issue with pacing at the start, for me however, it was wonderful to spend some time in Hobbiton. I thought it was the right amount of time with Bilbo and the Dwarves. It dipped slightly in energy around the build-up to Trollshaws but when the movie hit Rivendell it was just beautiful. I love that whole sequence; especially the new views and of course the White Council. The introdution would have to be as close to OMG for me. The most powerful beings of middle earth together and done so well. Galadriel was just WOW. From that point on, the movie lifted for me and continued to build through Goblin Cave and of course Riddles in the Dark (perhaps the best sequence and most crowd pleasing of the movie).

A few of my other favourite things:
* SFX/WideShots - I had somes doubts after the trailer...though after seeing it on the big screen, this is hands down the best SFX of all-time. It was very consistent and those wide shots of Dale, Goblin Town were truly amazing. The Wargs were upgraded extremely well and their movement in the wide shots was just leaps and bounds from TTT. Gollum was impeccable (it's now reached a point where one doesn't even think it's mo-cap, it's an outright performance).
* Bilbo - Martin Freeman delivered a magnificent performance, wonderfully subtle and really resonated with me. The sequence with Gollum is utter magic. I think that whole sequence was one of the highlights of the movie. The part where Bilbo could have killed Gollum and you could see a tear down Gollum(Smaegol) eyes (that of desperation that his precious is lost)...and then you remember the Gandalf's line about the pity of Bilbo in FOTR and also about using Sting early in AUJ.....very emotional stuff (and then Gollum turns again....classic).
* Thorin - Wonderful balance between hero and signs of looming downfall.
* Radagast - Everything
* Wonderful to see some songs sung throughout the movie, from the dwarves to even the Goblin King...and that core theme is wonderful
* Goblin King - Now this is a performance. I just love his grotesquery and mannerisms. Wonderful villain though killed too easily unfortunately.
* Loved the teaser with Smaug, sets up Desolation very well.

Missed Opportunities (there's nothing I really hated about the movie...):
* Howard Shores' score in this movie is slightly too familiar for my liking. I really wanted to hear strongs motive other than the core Misty Mountains theme. There was just too much re-cycled material and not enough freshness. Will definately check out the CD as I've heard it contains more cues though definately a missed opportunity. That being said, I think the next two movies will start to differentiate itself more.
* I missed the vocal performances and depth of song in the LOTR trilogy. Perhaps the only piece that got anywhere near that was the ending during the eagles scene (which I thought was fantastic BTW).
* The movie felt flat in some places, though i'm not sure if this is just because there's just too many dwarves too much testosterone. It's more the source material I think. In LOTR you had those momments where it was about romance/love, unfortunately we don't have that theme here and it's those types of scenes that normally resonate emotionally with people.....and yes, more opportunties to pull in those heart tugging songs/vocal performances.

OK, perhaps there was one part I didn't like. It was the ease at which our heroes killed goblins/wargs...etc. It just felt too easy and not much at stake. I think this is forgiveable however considering the source material though would like to see the stakes amp up grately in the next with our heroes really in danger in one-to-one combats.

I think the crowd in general really enjoyed this movie. I heard a few claps at the end (not the same as ROTK which was pretty unanimous) which is quite promising.

It's disheartening to see the grosses to date. I think it deserves so much more. Overall, one word comes to mind everytime I see the grosses and it's that of "dissapointment". Not really sure why to be honest, though perhaps the audiences has moved on (it happens)....though I've learnt through the years (or at least getting better and more accepting) at realising that the better movies are not always the highest grossing.

This movie has so wet my appetite, I can't wait to see Desolation of Smaug. I can't wait to see this movie again soon, before the weekend is out and will now see it in 48-fps. YES PRECIOUS IS BACK!!

So it did. My bad.

It's still doing pretty great business for a prequel. Name any prequel that has surpassed the adjusted gross of it's predecessors? I'm sure you'll find one because you anally retentive bastards always do, but it's very uncommon, which is my point. The Hobbit is doing absolutely fine.

Glad you liked it.

I'm going to see it in normal 3D first as well as I dont want to dislike the film because of the HFR.

I think it could still break the boxing day record. It will be a huge day with Les Miz and Wreck It Ralph also opening.

Definitely agree. Also, I was gobsmacked at the Goblin town wide shot. It's so detailed and articulate. Very good job.

Good review. Glad you enjoyed it.

Awesome news from Australia's Opening Day (boxing day) yesterday.

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/ ... 2bxm9.html

Australia's largest film exhibitor, Event Cinemas, posted its biggest day's trading on record, with business up 69 per cent on Boxing Day last year and higher than any other individual day in the company's more than 100-year history.

Jackson's film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was the chief lure, drawing in $5,925,000 in one day to record the third biggest opening day ever, behind the final Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 ($7,092,000) and 2012's biggest movie, The Avengers ($6,004,000).

Unlike the other two films, The Hobbit managed its opening day result without midnight screenings and despite opening on a smaller number of screens, debuting on 560 screens compared with 727 screens for Potter and 621 screens for The Avengers.
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The all-time Boxing Day podium remains entirely populated by Peter Jackson's movies, as The Hobbit took top spot over the three films in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, with 2003's Return of the King the previous record holder with a box office gross of $5,287,000, followed by 2002's Two Towers ($5,229,000) and 2001's Fellowship of the Ring ($4,121,000).

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Another Article

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainme ... 6544009261

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This is the sort of grosses I'm expecting from The Hobbit. The love that Australians have for Middle Earth is proven yet again. The largest Boxing Day on record, with all 4 installments holding the #1-4 positions on the charts and pretty much a stranglehold on the Top 10 largest opening days of all-time.

This opening is superb...considering the fact that The Avengers also released on a Public Holiday and had midnights, this opening by The Hobbit is more impressive if you ask me. One must also not forget that while it's Boxing Day (the largest moviegoing day of the year) some other movies did major business such as Les Mis AU$1.82m (or AU$3m if you count sneaks last weekend)and Wreck It Wralph $1.145. This year would have to be the largest on record with The Hobbit trouncing all LOTRs opening days in local dollars (or about on par factoring in inflation + 3D). If it had the market to itself like HP7-II or The Avengers, it would smashed HP7-II's record I think....evidenced in the lower screen count (as it shares 3D screens will Wreck-It-Ralph and the medium-large screens with Les Mis).

Business will likely dip majorly today (thursday) though The Hobbit's nightly sessions are running at around 75% or slightly behind yesterday; not badd. The target is to at least match The Avenger's multiplier (which itself is not going to be easy) through the weekend, and I would be extremely happy if it hits AU$14m 4-Day ($20m 5-Day) and give TTT a huge scare as the largest opening weekend for the entire franchise.

In US$ it will easily trounce all LOTR pics as the AU$ now is about 40-50% more than when ROTK opened.

1 1 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 # (M), WARNER BROS [754/ $24,362] 18,368,621 N/A 25,460,975

1 1 THE AVENGERS ## (M), WALT DISNEY [621/ $21,398] 13,288,146 N/A
19,305,652

1 1 THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (M), HOYTS/STUDIOCANAL [655/ $19,070] 12,490,775 N/A 12,490,775

1 1 SKYFALL (M), SONY PICTURES [580/ $21,215] 12,304,513 N/A 12,627,718

1 1 TWO TOWERS, THE [424 / $33,291 ] 14,115,394 N/A 14,115,39
1 2 FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING ** [406 / $ 24,015 ] 9,749,937 / 13,872,70
1 1 RETURN OF THE KING (M), ROADSHOW [453 / $28,105 ] ## 12,731,703 N/A 12,731,703

It's absolutely a classic trilogy, I don't understand how this is happening...maybe it's just a case of it looking too much like LOTR and not offering anything new? I mean no one considers Pirates of the Caribbean to be a classic trilogy yet On Shittier Tides is destroying this. Most people have horrible taste anyway and think Transformers is good, fuck "general audiences".

If I didn't go online to find out about box office and reviews and whatnot I would think this was the biggest, most hyped, best film of the year...I've been in 3 countries in the past 2 weeks and ads are EVERYWHERE, everyone is talking about seeing it, everyone is giving it rave reviews.

Agreed.

You see TH had massive interest but not enough intense interest.


Quite contrary to THG, TDKR and especially TA.

The Lord of the Rings is a classic trilogy, that's a fact.

The Hobbit just had bad buzz, bad marketing and presented nothing new to audiences.

It's still a bit early to know for sure, but right now it looks like THE HOBBIT will beat HP1's 3rd weekend record of 1,357,107 admissions here in Germany...
http://www.insidekino.com/DJahr/DBOWoch ... m#3._WOCHE

Hobbit is doing well in Poland.

It has Avatar legs. If only they would continue after the holidays...

TH has made about 56 million dollars Overseas over the past three days...

Thursday (12/27) Update: Warner Bros. is reporting an updated internationally tally of $344 million for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Worldwide, the film now has now exceeded $523 million.



Looks like an overseas finish of 600-650 million looks right.


Hmm should finish around 900-950 million WW.

not bad

$700m is still possible with China.

It depends how it performs overseas after New Years.

If Japan did better it likely would have cleared 1 billion it appears.


I think 900-1 billion is a solid result any I have a feeling that the next parts will actually increase in gross.

Looks like holidays are really helping it out in OS markets, but that was expected ofcourse. It has one more holiday weekend coming up which would really help it out. Australia helped big time and if it can do HUGE numbers there (plus China) then there is a chance for $700m OS.

I believe it will make slightly more than $325 DOM so it just needs $675m OS to get past $1b mark it should get close to $650m even right now IMO.

You're forgetting The Dark Knight Rises .

I can't at the bar being so high for this film that 900-1B is just "solid". It's still a huge movie and it's not like this is proof audience "do not care about LOTR" or whatever nonsense someone was saying. If it were doing Prince Caspian numbers then you could say no one cares about Lord of the Rings anymore, not 900-1B.

I know $900m-$1b cannot be qualified for a poor gross but even you have to admit it is way down the expectations specially in OS markets where it most likely will be beaten by Skyfall as well. It is just solid BECAUSE there was still so much room of growth.

I do realize its not always possible to retain same amount of admissions when so much time passes by (unless there is a HUGE breakout) still the decrease in admissions here is just not measurable. The decrease in overseas admissions is HUGE and no way can be called great numbers.

If it gets 1 billion WW then that would be great.

Bond is always huge OS. Sure Skyfall hit the jackpot globally but its not fair to compare The Hobbit to it. I still think it will make $1B+ and in the end may fall a couple of hundred million short of our higher end expectations.

Its doing great here. My fake IMAX session was half full at 6pm but thats to be expected. The lines for other sessions were huge. It should clear $40m here, maybe even get to $50m and battle Skyfall for No.2 of the year behind Avengers.

How big was TA in Australia ?

I know in Canada it cleared 60 million dollars.