Holiday Movies 2014

November 7 kicks off the holiday movies season with a bang, although possibly not as loud as previous years.

Interstellar (Nov7) opens to much hype, but a serious lack of fanfare. I've seen the previews and am confused by the direction of the movie. Admittedly, I am not a Nolan fan. Other than Heath Ledger, I thought he missed the mark on Batman. Memento was good, innovative, but his other efforts are mixed. I'm sure it will do well for opening weekend, but have steep drops after.

Big Hero Six (Nov 7) was an odd choice for a Marvel animated movie, I thought at first, but since seeing the previews, I'm jazzed to see it. I keep wanting to pick up cats and say "Hairy Baby." While I will probably skip Interstellar, I will be in line for this one.

Dumb and Dumber To comes out the following weekend. Another skip. Twenty years is a long time for a sequel and this one will probably fail to live up to the first's expectations.

The Penguins of Madagascar comes next and is one of the few brands that do reliable domestic business, although the series' international returns have skyrocketed. It will be the family go-to for those who want something familiar.

Nov 21 is the beginning of the Thanksgiving crop of movies. Of course, Mockingjay will open huge, but not the levels of Catching Fire. The third book is the worst liked of the trilogy and I expect that to carry over into the films. Plus, splitting it into two seems a bit of a money grab. Still, it will probably take the top spot from Guardians by Xmas.

The week before Christmas brings the final Hobbit movie, but there has been declining returns for each one. Turning the slim book into a trilogy seemed like overkill and, as a big LOTR fan, even I'm not looking forward to it.

Christmas brings three movies that will undoubtedly be well attended. Into The Woods is Disney's offering and the few scenes I've seen make it look inventive and exciting. Annie is the usual holiday musical fare which plays well for families and Night at the Museum 3.

There are a few other offerings that may surprise such as Paddington, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, Unbroken and Horrible Bosses 2, but none of these seem to be sparking very well. One or two might break through and do decent BO, but most will flounder.


Mockingjay 1........375 million
Interstellar.............260 million
Hobbit 3................240 million
Big Hero 6............215 million
Penguins...............185 million
Into The Woods....17o million
Night/Museum......155 million
Annie....................150 million
Dumb and Dumb..125 million
Unbroken..............110 million
Horrible Bosses....85 million

Check back in February for final numbers