December box office records were broken over the weekend by the opening of the Lord of the Rings’ prequel The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The film, directed by Peter Jackson, surpassed I Am Legend to earn the biggest December debut of all time. The Hobbit earned a whopping $84.8 million to I Am Legend’s impressive $77.2 million in 2007.
Warner Bros. domestic head Dan Fellman said the record-breaking opening signals a very successful run for the film. "Schools are in session. So to come in with this kind of a record-breaking number is really exciting for us. Knowing that the holiday is in front of us, we're going to be in for a long and successful run,” Fellman said.
Taking second, third and fourth places at the weekend box office with numbers in the $7 million range was Rise of the Guardians, Lincoln and Skyfall respectively. Life of Pi rounded out the top five with $5.4 million. Filling out the top 10 was The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, Wreck-It-Ralph, Playing for Keeps, Red Dawn and Silver Linings Playbook.
Peter Jackson’s next Hobbit film, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, is set for release in December 2013. The third film, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, will be released in 2014.
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