The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, the final film in Sir Peter Jackson’s trilogy of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien on The Hobbit, has had a strong start by taking $117 million in the opening weekend.
On Wednesday last week the film opened across much of Western European including Belgium, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland. On Thursday is opened in 37 countries including Brazil, Mexico New Zealand, and Russia, and on Friday the film opened in the UK. Following Saturday opening in the Japan, the film finally appears in Canada and the US today.
The opening weekend compares favourable to those of An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation Smaug both of which grossed around $1 billion each in box office takings. The strongest international audience has been Germany, followed by the UK, whilst the film has broken records for IMAX.
The big question is: what does all this mean for Tolkien?
