By Todd Cunningham
TheWrap
“The Wolf of Wall Street,” Martin Scorsese’s searing take on the sex-and-drug-fueled excess of the 1980s stock market boom, couldn’t top reigning champ “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” in its debut at the Christmas Day box office.
The black comedy starring Leonard DiCaprio came close, taking in $9.1 million Wednesday, just behind the $9.5 million of Peter Jackson’s Tolkien tale. But paramount’s R-rated “Wolf’ received just a “C” CinemaScore from first-night audiences, so it could have a tough time making up ground on “Smaug” over the holiday weekend.
If “Hobbit” hangs on, it will be the third straight weekend win for the Warner Bros. Blockbuster, which has taken in $150 million domestically — and $425 million worldwide for Warner Bros.
The Will Ferrell comedy “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” brought in $8.1 million for paramount and was third, just ahead of another of the six wide openers, Fox’s surprisingly strong “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.”
The comedy directed by and starring Ben Stiller brought in a better-than-expected $7.8 million for Fox and audiences gave it a “B+” CinemaScore. It beat out holdover “American Hustle,” David O. Russell’s quirky tale of Abscam con men, which was fifth with an estimated $7.4 million for Sony.
Universal’s “47 Ronin,” the samurai action epic starring Keanu Reeves, debuted with $7 million. That was ahead of very low expectations and it received a “B+” CinemaScore, too. But it’s clear already that it won’t come near offsetting its $170 million production budget.
The weakest of the wide openers was the Sylvester Stallone-Robert De Niro boxing comedy “Grudge Match,” which took in $4 million. It received a “B+” CinemaScore and a slow start for the mature-skewing comedy from Warner Bros. isn’t a major surprise.
It finished ninth, behind two Disney films. The 3D animated kids film “Frozen” was seventh with $6.3 million after Wednesday, but look for the Disney Animation hit to move up the ladder as families come out this weekend. “Saving Mr. Banks,” starring Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson in the story behind the making of “Mary Poppins,” was eighth with $5.1 million.
Justin Bieber’s concert documentary “Believe” didn’t get much of a boost from his Christmas Eve tweet announcing his retirement. It brought in a soft $1.2 million from 1,037 theaters in its debut for Open Road.
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