(L to R) William Kircher (Bifur), Graham McTavish (Dwalin), Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins), James Nesbitt (Bofur) and John Callen (Oin)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is set to reach box office takings of a billion dollars!
It will become the fifteenth film to do so and be in the company of Titanic, which was the first film to cross the billion-dollar mark, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Dark Knight and Avatar. Nowadays, although it is less of an event to top a billion dollars, with The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall all doing this in 2012, it is still a significant achievement and the sign of a successful film that is a must-see worldwide.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hit $921 million on Monday, with a $288.7/632.2 million US/international split. With several more weeks of play plus a February 22 opening in China, its final territory, The Hobbit should be crossing the billion-dollar threshold by March reports Variety. Outside of the US, the largest box offices for the film are $80.2 million in Germany and $78.2 million in the UK.
It all bodes well for The Desolation of Smaug, which opens December 13, 2013 and There and Back Again, due out on July 18, 2014.
