Saturday, February 2, 2013

The Hobbit: Sooo Preccccioussssss!

Nyah-nyah, nasssty movie criticsssess!
Those same orcs who bitched that Sir PJ was just milking The Hobbit for all it was worth by turning it into a trilogy, who said it wouldn't fly, who didn't throw any awards at it...bite me!
As of last weekend, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has made more money worldwide than either Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring or Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in their entire time in theatres.
The international box office total for The Hobbit is currently $940 million, continuing the upwards trend of Jackson’s Middle-earth movies (Fellowship made $870m and Towers $923m).
The only Tolkien movie to make more money worldwide than The Hobbit is 2005's Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, which grossed
We hates thems movie criticsss!
$1.1billion.
Only in the US are things are a little different. Currently, The Hobbit is lagging behind all three of PJ's earlier Tolkien movies, at a mere sniffling trivial 294m... although it's still in the middle of its run, and has only been out for seven weeks versus the 243, 250 and 170 days that Fellowship, Towers and Return enjoyed, respectively. At its current rate, it's highly likely The Hobbit will eclipse Fellowship at least before leaving theatres, if not also Towers. Return of the King, however, can relax on its throne made of the $377m it scored from US audiences.
So, lessons learnt? Maybe chalk it up to the power of a recognisable brand...or note that each successive Rings movie was more financially successful than the one before...or that critics don't always know what they're Tolkien about...or that Sir PJ is pure preccccioussssss!
Some things may simply be critic-proof, which is a relief given there're two more Hobbitssss waiting in the wings for this and next year. If the box office returns hold up, maybe talk of a final trilogy based on material in The Silmarillion won't seem so crazy after all!

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