UPDATED: The second film in Peter Jackson's trilogy isn't likely to hit the $84.6 million North American debut of the first prequel pic, but is doing strong business overseas.
It looks like The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug's debut at the U.S. box office won't come close to the huge numbers from the first film in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings prequel trilogy.
The second pic will open No. 1 domestically this weekend, but is clearly standing in the shadow of the The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Box-office observers expect the new film, a New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Bros. production, to open between $68 - $72 million domestically, a significant drop from An Unexpected Journey's $84.6 million in its U.S. debut. The 3D film, which is rated PG-13 and has received overall positive reviews, is opening in more than 3,900 theaters in the U.S.
Smaug earned $8.8 million at midnight shows Thursday, a 32 percent drop from the $13 million An Unexpected Journey grossed when it opened exactly one year ago.
In December 2012, An Unexpected Journey grossed $37.5 million to score the biggest Friday ever in the month of December. It has to date earned more than $1 billion worldwide.
The film, based on J.R.R. Tolkien's 1937 fantasy novel, stars Martin Freeman as hobbit Bilbo Baggins, who travels with a group of dwarfs to face off against the dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch). Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Lee Pace and Luke Evans co-star.
Despite a slower start, Smaug could still reach An Unexpected Journey's final $1 billion worldwide tally since its likely to do big business overseas. The adventure film also is opening in 49 territories abroad this weekend, including eight of the top 12 markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K., Mexico, Brazil and Korea).
The film has opened No. 1 in several markets, taking in a total of $15.23 million Thursday, and outpacing An Unexpected Journey by 11 percent. The two-day international cume is at $24 million, according to Warner Bros.
In Germany, Smaug delivered the biggest opening of the year with $3.4 million on 1,462 screens. In Mexico, it also opened No. 1 with $909,000 on 2,555 screens, accounting for 58 percent of the market share.
In New Zealand, the home of director Jackson, it earned $700,000 on 251 screens.
The combined grosses of Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand were $1.4 million (18 percent ahead of An Unexpected Journey).
The international rollout for Smaug will be at a slightly slower pace than it was for An Unexpected Journey (which earned $139 million in its international debut). Warner Bros. has chosen to push its release in Japan to late February and shifted a few Latin American markets one week closer to the Christmas holiday.
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