Box Office

From ew, Although there were three huge wide releases in theaters this weekend, the third and final Hobbit beat them all by a landslide. The Peter Jackson film brought in $56.2 million over the weekend (and $90.6 million since its Wednesday opening), while Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Annie — all films showing in more than 3,000 locations — made almost $40 million less.

This is a win at the weekend box office, but compared to the rest of the Hobbit films, The Battle of the Five Armies didn’t fare as well: The first film in the trilogy made $84.6 million its opening weekend while the second took in $73.6 million.

The 23 percent drop in opening weekend grosses between the second and third film could be due to a number of things, including movie fatigue. The book — yes, singular book — the films are based on is just over 300 pages, but each movie is at least two hours long. You can only stretch one story so much, and The Hobbit has been stretched… and stretched… and stretched.

Like Battle of the Five Armies, the most recent Night at the Museum is the third in a trilogy — one that audiences also aren’t as jazzed about anymore. The first opened with $30.4 million and the second with $54.2 million, but the third opened with a comparatively lackluster $17.3 million. The lesson here? Don’t wait five years to make a sequel to a film that didn’t probably didn’t need a sequel to begin with.

Annie was neck and neck with Night at the Museum and made just one million less than the Ben Stiller flick. Although Annie is full of star power — the cast includes Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, and Quvenzhané Wallis (who’s already nabbed a Golden Globe nod for this role) — it also got a ton of bad reviews.

Exodus: Gods and Kings and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 were able to keep spots on the top five this weekend — but this will likely be their last weekend in the upper ranks, as Into the Woods, Unbroken, and The Gambler all open wide next weekend.

1. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies — $56.2 million
2. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb — $17.3 million
3. Annie — $16.3 million
4. Exodus: Gods and Kings — $8.1 million
5. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 – $7.8 million

Wild made its way to the number six spot this weekend with $4.2 million after adding nearly 1,000 locations. Top Five ($3.6 million), Big Hero 6 ($3.6 million), and Penguins of Madagascar ($3.5 million) followed close behind, while the Indian sci-fi comedy PK – a film only in 272 locations – rounded out the top 10 with $3.5 million.