NORTH AMERICA: 'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies' On the Verge of the $200M Mark After Leading New Year’s Day with $9.33M

By Daniel Garris

Warner's The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies took in an estimated $9.33 million on New Year's Day to lead the daily box office for the 15th time over the past 16 days. The third and final installment of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy was up 56 percent over Wednesday's New Year's Eve performance and down 29 percent from last Thursday's Christmas Day performance. The Battle of the Five Armies was the week's top film with $71.76 million. That was down 23 percent from the previous week and brings the film's 16-day total to $198.86 million. The Battle of the Five Armies is currently running 10 percent ahead of the $181.06 million 16-day take of last year's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and 6 percent behind the $211.91 million 16-day gross of 2012's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Disney's Into the Woods was up one spot and 53 percent over Wednesday to move back into second place on Thursday with $8.08 million. The Rob Marshall directed musical featuring Meryl Streep was down 46 percent from last Thursday's opening day performance. Into the Woods placed in second for the week with $57.05 million and has grossed $72.14 million in eight days of release. That places the film 11 percent ahead of the $65.04 million eight-day take of 2008's Bedtime Stories and 10.5 percent behind the $80.58 million eight-day gross of 2012's Les Misérables.

Unbroken was down one place to claim third with an estimated $6.95 million. The Angelina Jolie directed war drama from Universal was up a modest 18 percent over Wednesday and down 55 percent from last Thursday. Unbroken placed in third this week with $54.02 million and has grossed a significantly stronger than expected $69.46 million in eight days. The film is running 15 percent ahead of the $60.61 million eight-day start of 2008's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and 11 percent behind the $77.83 million eight-day take of 2012's Django Unchained.

Fox's Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb held steady in fourth place with an estimated $5.93 million. The third installment of the Ben Stiller led franchise was up 22 percent over Wednesday and down a slim 17 percent from last Thursday. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb placed in fourth for the week with $40.75 million. That represented a strong 18 percent increase over the film's opening week performance and brings the film's two-week total to $75.28 million.

Annie rounded out Thursday's top five with an estimated $4.27 million. Sony's musical remake starring Quvenzhané Wallis, Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz was up 42 percent over Wednesday and down only 7 percent from last Thursday. Annie took fifth place this week with $31.9 million. That was up 9 percent over the previous week and brings the film's two-week start to a solid $61.23 million.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 placed in sixth with $2.89 million. The third installment of Lionsgate's blockbuster franchise was up 48 percent over Wednesday and up 8 percent over last Thursday. Mockingjay - Part 1 placed in sixth for the week with $19.52 million. That represented a 29 percent increase over the previous frame and places the film's six-week total at $316.17 million.

The Weinstein Company's The Imitation Game and Paramount's The Gambler claimed seventh and eighth place respectively with estimated daily grosses of $2.75 million and $2.39 million. The Imitation Game was up 31 percent over Wednesday, while The Gambler increased by 50 percent. Respective current total grosses stand at $22.67 million for The Imitation Game and at $21.27 million for The Gambler.