When will people understand that you can't judge every movie by its Rotten Tomato rating in terms of a film's success?

Most of the time kiddie movies are immune to such critical dissection...I'm pulling for Annie even with all of the racist bullshit the Sony suits were dropping in those Emails...Black kids need to see themselves on screen...It looks like it's headed for nearly $20 mill this weekend and folks are saying it's going to do more than that when Christmas hits....Not bad for a "black" family movie that people were ready to tear down...

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‘Hobbit’ Hot No. 1; ‘Museum’ Bows Second, ‘Annie’ Sings Third – Friday UPDATE
by Anthony D'Alessandro
December 20, 2014 2:46am


Saturday: 7:30AM: Warner Bros. is reporting this morning that The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies made $16.575M Friday for a cume of $51M with $2.18M coming from IMAX alone (13% of Friday). IMAX looks to have a 16% of FSS and 3D shows are pulling in about 50% of the gross, which is higher than Smaug,but about the same as An Unexpected Journey. Per some early morning estimates, the weekend showdown for No. 2 between Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Annie looks like it’s wider. Fox is reporting Museum in second with $5.625M yesterday, a position the Ben Stiller comedy plans to hold throughout the weekend with $18.3M. Sony’s Annie posted $5.3M and is now eyeing a $16-$17M weekend.


The Annie reboot, which cost a reported $65M, was further bolstered by two Golden Globe noms for actress Quvenzhane Wallis (actress, musical or comedy) and for Sia’s song “Ordinary” in the film. Also moving the marketing meter for Annie is its soundtrack which features singer/songwriter Sia and producer Greg Kurstin who gave the musical’s classic songs “Tomorrow” and “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” a modern makeover. Annie boasts 18M YouTube views, on par with Les Miserables two years ago. The film’s social media universe per RelishMIX is 60.5M across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter vs. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb‘s 52.2M. RelishMIX shows that Annie videos are reposting strongly.

After all The Interview hacking headaches this week, Sony is over the moon with its A- Cinemascore for Annie, which bodes well for the pic’s life. Critics have been throwing gum at the warbling orphan’s hair with a 28% Rotten Tomatoes score, but that’s just further proof that blockbuster Broadway musical adaptations don’t need the tweed set to sing high notes at the B.O. (2008’s Mamma Mia! was slammed by critics with 54% rotten, but got an A- Cinemascore and posted a domestic B.O. of $144.1M). The estimated Friday for Museum: Secret of the Tomb ranks below the $12.1M first Friday of its opening chapter, which bowed during the same December frame in 2006, but look at what Fox did with December 2011 kiddie threequel Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. Both Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Chipwrecked earned B+ Cinemascores, and posted similar Fridays (Chipwrecked earned a bit more with $6.7M), however the latter legged out at $133.1M stateside.


Below is the top 10 for the weekend of Dec. 19-21 per Friday night industry estimates:

1). The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (WB), 3,875 theaters /$16.1M Fri./ 3-day cume: $52M / Total cume: $86.4M/Wk 1 (Bowed Wednesday)

2). Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (FOX), 3,785 theaters /$5.9M Fri./ 3-day cume: $19.6M /Wk 1

3). Annie (Sony), 3,116 theaters /$6M Fri./ 3-day cume: $19.1M /Wk 1

4). Exodus: Gods and Kings (FOX), 3,053 theaters (0)/$2.3M Fri. (-74%)/ 3-day cume: $8M(-67%) / Total cume: $38.6M/Wk 2

5). The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (LGF), 3,174 theaters (-557) /$2.2M Fri. (-41%)/ 3-day cume: $7.9M (-38%) / Total cume: $289.4M/Wk 5

6). Wild (FSL), 1061 theaters (+945) / $1.15M Fri. (+141%) / 3-day cume: $4M (+167%) / Total cume: $7M /Wk 3

7). The Penguins Of Madagascar (FOX), 2,717 theaters (-595)/ $944K Fri. (-37%)/ 3-day cume: $3.8M (-47%) / Total cume: $M / Wk 4

8). Big Hero 6 (DIS), 2,407 theaters (-369) / $929K Fri. (-29%) / 3-day cume: $3.5M (-41%)/ Total cume: $190.5M /Wk 7

9). Top Five (PAR), 1,307 theaters (+328) /$931K Fri. (-63%)/ 3-day cume: $2.9M (-57%)/ Total cume: $11.9M /Wk 2

10). Interstellar (PAR), 1,550 theaters (-701) / $720K Fri. (-52%) / 3-day cume: $2.7M (-51%) / Total cume: $171.6M / Wk 7

11) P.K (UTV), 272 theaters/ $800K Fri./ 3-day cume: $2.3M /Wk 1