‘The Hobbit’ Passes Two ‘LOTR’ Pics At Worldwide Box Office

COMMENTS (23)

• Yeah well it still sucked. I was madly in love with the LOTR films, and I couldn’t have been more disappointed in The Hobbit. It really was worse then The Phantom Menace–who would’ve thought that would happen?

  Comment by Dan — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 4:00pm PST  Reply to this post

  • I’m a huge Tolkienfan but “The Hobbit” was bad. Maybe not as bad as the “Star Wars” prequels but definitely more boring.

    I know it won’t happen but the next two installments should clock around 120 minutes if this one is any indication about the pacing.

    Comment by Lenny — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 5:00pm PST  Reply to this post

• And it still won’t show a profit for any of its participants.

  Comment by Sham — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 4:02pm PST  Reply to this post

• With 3D, IMAX and everything else expensive, it highlights just how well the original films did.

  Comment by Guest — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 4:14pm PST  Reply to this post

• Unbelievable… that so many… paid so much… to be put to sleep…and, only to wake for more of the same. Those folks must be drooling over the next two installments…unbelievable.

  And Sham, there will be plenty of profit from this trilogy to make all the participants sing Hobbit songs all the way to the bank…do not worry.

  Comment by FTCS — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 4:27pm PST  Reply to this post

• The next installment will tell the tale. I don’t know anyone who saw the first that is excited for the 2nd, and absolutely nobody is going back to the HFR 3D version even if they do end up going.

  Comment by Tripjack — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 5:04pm PST  Reply to this post

  • The HFR version was unbelievable and not only will I be going back to see the next couple Hobbit movies several times each in HFR, but I hope more movies are made in that format.

    There is nothing wrong with having opinions, just don’t claim to know what everyone else thinks.

    Comment by Walter — Tuesday January 29, 2013 @ 5:56am PST  Reply to this post

• I loved the Hobbit. My only issue with it is that it wasn’t longer, you say it put you to sleep well I fall asleep reading the book. The only real problem I had with it was during the stone giants, when Thorin yelled out for his nephew it sounded like he said Kili even though it was Fili who had fallen.

  Comment by CJ — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 5:17pm PST  Reply to this post

  • I wish it were longer too. My doctor says its best to get at least 6-8 hours of sleep, and the usher kept waking me up 2 3/4 into my slumber! I hope PJ makes the next chapter at least 6 hours long so I will be certain to get at least 6 hours of sleep when I see it.

    And also, since it won’t be out until December, I hope the Chinese theater (where I slept through it) jacks their ticket prices up closer to $40 per ticket rather than the $28.75 I paid for the first installment. Since my wife won’t f%^$k me, I hope for the right amount of $$ PJ & WB will.

    Comment by Truthteller — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 5:39pm PST  Reply to this post

    • It only cost me $10 to see the Hobbit, so I’ve been many times; I’m addicted to this movie and can’t wait for the next one.. As one whos tax money helped pay for the film I hope they get all the sucess they deserve.

      Comment by CJ — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 9:24pm PST  Reply to this post

• Dear FTCS,

  I am not worried, but the profit participants should be worried. The LOTR series does not currently show a profit.

  Comment by Sham — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 5:28pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Hey Sham,

    I fully understand how no one understands studio accounting which rarely shows a profit. That being said, most of the Hobbit team are folks from Peter’s LOTR both in front and behind the camera. Peter runs a tight ship in New Zealand, but in this case, I truly believe he would not let them down regarding participation…nor, would he do the same to himself , especially ( doubt it) if he and others did not see participation income from LOTR.

    Comment by FTCS — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 6:00pm PST  Reply to this post

• I think the second film will be much more entertaining. Story wise there is more going on and I think PJ must be aware of the lukewarm reception of Hobbit (especially the first half, which was almost universally & scientifically thought of as Boring As Fuck).

  I will say I did enjoy the second half of Hobbit…

  Comment by hopeful — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 6:04pm PST  Reply to this post

  • I enjoyed the first half of the Hobbit more then I did the first half of the Fellowship, now that was boring.

    Comment by CJ — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 9:16pm PST  Reply to this post

• After Warners, MGM, New Line, Wingnut and god knows who else will be taking their slice of the Hobbit pie, all participants will be praying the second and third instalments make at least as much. When the box office hoard is divided amongst so many different parties, it hardly seems worthwhile.

  Comment by an unexpected loss — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 6:15pm PST  Reply to this post

• They always talk about the grosses. I would love for someone to talk about the actual number of tickets sold. Take away all the 3-D Imax charges and you’ll really see how different the ticket sales are.

  Comment by Ronnie — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 6:35pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Gross is the measure of success. Why would tickets (units) sold have any real bearing here if not connected to profit. This is a business, and profit is what counts.

    Amazon massively outsells Apple in terms of units sold, and yet Apple registered a higher profit in the last quarter than Amazon has in the last 18 years combined. Obviously the units are not the same, but a stockholder couldn’t care less.

    Popularity, which is what I suspect you’re more interested in, is better measured in other ways (though I can’t think of any definitive approach).

    Comment by TV — Tuesday January 29, 2013 @ 5:31am PST  Reply to this post

• Well, surprise. I loved it – despite it’s bumps. I loved the hfr. It does NOT hurt my eyes so I have to take the glasses off. It shows levels of ‘dimension’ rather than just a foreground and background which is all you get with 3D. AND, most of the people I know have gone back to it and back to it in 48fps. It’s not to everyone’s taste. OK. Fair enough. Nor is 24fps 3D. But why the outrage? It’s just another technology. Is it because it’s Peter Jackson doing it not, say, Guillermo del Toro? Or that, because it’s so new it’s not yet ‘perfect’? Is there something wrong with trying something new?

  Comment by Deb — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 6:52pm PST  Reply to this post

• Please let’s not Forget the Hobbit was the Tolkien’s Kids Version of Lord of the Rings.
  and Hollywood aside to show due reverence to JRR Tolkien as a Writer the New Zealand Geographic Board will Decide on March 28th whether to Name a Historic Mountain peak on the Gondor Formation Near Milford Sound, Tolkien Mountain, in real life 3-D High Resolution reality.

  Comment by Aaron Nicholson — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 8:36pm PST  Reply to this post

• Are they adjusting for inflation?

  Comment by D.Z. — Monday January 28, 2013 @ 9:27pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Why adjust them? If we adjusted all movies, none of them would beat Gone with the Wind and any charts would be meaningless. Today’s environment is completely different to that from 10 years ago – DVD, BR, UV, HD… stuff that wasn’t 10 years ago. In 2000, cinema was the way to experience these movies. Today, people have home theaters and HD televisions and buying a BR disc is sometimes cheaper than a theater ticket.

    Comment by timotey — Tuesday January 29, 2013 @ 12:35am PST  Reply to this post

• Hm. So I guess the critics can go jump. Yes, the movie is friggin awesome. I’ll grant that it’s maybe ten minutes longer than it should be, but it is better than the previous ones if you ask me… better than the book that it’s based on if one is feeling really blasphemous. Watch it in standard 24fps format and you’ll like it a lot more.

  Comment by shadrick — Tuesday January 29, 2013 @ 1:12am PST  Reply to this post

• Well lets see. First of all movie prices have really gone up since the LOTR films were released. Second The Hobbit had access to the higher premiums that 3D movies enjoy. Third, foreign markets have crazily expanded from the time the LOTR series was released. There are movies that now gross more in Russia and China than the US.

  And finally The Hobbit with a $200 million + budget far exceeds any of the LOTR films.

  Yeah this isn’t a great achievement at all (and I really liked the movie).

  Comment by Matthew — Tuesday January 29, 2013 @ 5:27am PST  Reply to this post