Ridley Scott’s ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ easily tops the U.S. box office with a $24.5 million debut; Peter Jackson’s ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ opens in 37 international markets, earning a massive $117.6 million.
Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings easily topped the U.S. box office this weekend with a $24.5 million debut, dethroning The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1, which had held the number one spot for the past three weeks. Exodus, which cost $140 million to make after tax breaks, also opened in several international territories, earning $43.3 million around the globe for distributor 20th Century Fox for a worldwide total of $74.3 million.
Second place for the weekend went to the third Hunger Games film, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 1, now it its fourth week in theaters. The Jennifer Lawrence-starring YA adaptation earned $13.2 million for a domestic total of $277.4 million. Worldwide, the film has made $611.4 million, helping Lionsgate pass the $1 billion mark internationally for the third year in a row.
DreamWorks Animation’s Penguins of Madagascar swooped in just ahead of this weekend's other new offering, Top Five, for third place. The Madagascar spinoff earned $7.3 million in its third week at the box office, pushing the film’s domestic total to $58.8 million. Overseas, Penguins earned an additional $14.7 million for an international total of $116 million and worldwide tally of $174.8 million.
Chris Rock's comedy Top Five lands in fourth place for the weekend with a $7.2 million debut. The Paramount film, about a comedian who is trying to be a serious actor, opened in 979 locations, and will open wider in the coming holiday weeks.
Disney's Marvel-inspired Big Hero 6 took fifth place, adding $6.1 million to its domestic tally for a total of $185.3 million. Internationally, Big Hero 6 has made $68.2 million to date, pushing the film’s worldwide total to $253.5 million.
Christopher Nolan's Interstellar added $5.5 million for a new total of $166.8 million. Internationally Interstellar has made $455 million for a worldwide total of $621.8 million.
Horrible Bosses 2 placed seventh, taking in $4.6 million for a domestic total of $43.6 million. Overseas, the R-rated comedy, from New Line and Warner Bros., has made $32.3 million for a worldwide total of $75.9 million.
Universal’s Dumb and Dumber To came in eighth place at the North American box office, taking in $ $2.8 million for a domestic total of $82.1 million.
Focus Features' Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything came in ninth place, taking in $2.5 million for a total of $17.1 million.
Rounding up the list at number 10 is Fox Searchlight’s Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon. Now in its second week in limited release, Wild made $1.5 million for a domestic total of $2.4 million.
Meanwhile, A week ahead of its U.S. debut, Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies opened in 37 international markets, earning a massive $117.6 million. Top territories included Germany ($19.5 million), the U.K. ($15.15 million), France ($14.5 million), Russia ($13.4 million), Brazil ($6.9 million), Mexico ($6.4 million) and New Zealand ($1.8 million).
Box office numbers were obtained on boxofficemojo.com.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
