Thanks to the film's recent release in China, Warner Bros.' fantasy epic
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has finally crossed the $1 billion mark in the worldwide box office. The Peter Jackson-directed prequel, which is the first of a new trilogy set in Middle-earth, has grossed $301.1 million domestically and nearly $700M worldwide. This is good news for WB, as the studio's most recent release,
Jack The Giant Slayer, has only debuted with an estimated $28M in its opening weekend.
An Unexpected Journey is the 15th film in history to cross $1B, and the fourth film of 2012 to do so (the others being
Marvel's The Avengers,
Skyfall and
The Dark Knight Rises). It's also the second highest grossing Middle-earth movie, behind 2003's
The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (which grossed $1.12B).
"We could not be more proud to have reached reached this amazing benchmark. Together with our partners at MGM and New Line, everyone at Warner Bros. congratulates Peter Jackson and his entire cast and crew on the extraordinary success of this film," said WB domestic distribution president Dan Fellman. WB international distribution president Veronika Kwan Vandenberg added,
"From Berlin to Beijing, it is so gratifying to see how the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journsey has been such an event with audiences around the world. We know that moviegoers everywhere are already excited about the next film, as are we."
Additionally, Warner Bros. has slated
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug for December 13th this year, and recently moved
The Hobbit: There And Back Again to December 17th, 2014.
An Unexpected Journey arrives on Blu-Ray March 22nd.
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