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APEX Hollywood Shortlist: It’s Anyone’s Game With Eclectic Offerings Storming the Pre-Holiday B.O.

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Warner Bros., The Hobbit the Battle of Five Armies
Warner Bros., The Hobbit the Battle of Five Armies

Christmas came early at the box office this year with a wide open slate of new releases that, quite literally, had something for everyone. There were giant bats, goblins and orcs battling dwarves and elves in gilded armor (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies), a family comedy about displays coming vividly to life at London’s British Museum (Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb), a racy, sci-fi comedy from Bollywood (P.K.) and more than a few adorable singing orphans (Annie). The only thing missing was an arty Mike Leigh period piece about legendary British painter, J.M.W. Turner (Mr. Turner). Oh, wait, that movie opened too.

As expected, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies decimated the box office almost as mightily as the dragon Smaug laid waste to Laketown, with a weekend gross of $54.7M and a five-day take of $89.1M. But the film’s relatively modest opening (by Hobbit trilogy standards) left plenty of room for other newcomers to flourish in the busy pre-Holiday time frame.

Fox, The Night At the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

Featuring comedy legend Robin Williams in one of his final onscreen performances and Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney in his last, Fox’s Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb also performed well, opening with a very frame-worthy $17.1M.

Sony Pictures, Annie
Sony Pictures, Annie

Singing it’s way out of the orphanage and into a solid third place finish of $15.8M was Sony’s eagerly-awaited remake of Annie. Featuring Beast of the Southern Wild‘s Quvenzhané Wallis in her first major role since becoming the youngest Best Actress nominee in Oscar history at age 9, you can bet your bottom dollar that Annie will continue to perform well with families over the holidays.

UTV Motion Pictures, P.K.

Also making history this week was the Aamir Khan Hindi-language comedy P.K. (UTV Motion Pictures), which had the biggest North American box office debut of any Bollywood film ever with $3.5M on 272 screens.

In related news, indie UK helmer Mike Leigh scored his highest stateside per-screen average ever for his period biopic Mr. Turner, which took in $21,800 per screen in five theatres over the weekend. Leigh regular Timothy Spall took Best Actor honors for his performance as Turner at the Cannes Film Festival in May and both he and the film look like solid bets for award season kudos moving forward.