Box Office: ‘The Hobbit’ Rules Them All With $90.6 Million

Moviegoers helped Peter Jackson bid farewell to Middle Earth in style, pushing “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” to $90.6 million over its first five days in theaters.

The franchise finale debuted Wednesday on 3,875 locations and easily trumped tracking which had predicted a debut in the $70 million range. For its inaugural three-day weekend, the fantasy adventure earned $56.2 million.

“There have been six visits to Middle Earth and this is the final one and it became so important for people to come out to see this in a big way,” said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. distribution executive vice president. “The action was there and Peter made a fabulous movie.”

This “Hobbit” faced stiffer competition than the previous installments in the form of two major family releases, “Annie” and “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.”