--- description: But 'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies' is expected to beat it at the box office. title: 'Unbroken' Hits the Ground Running Ahead of Weekend Box Office image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2254afbec892e20/69876ed65f570f6d5eb1436d/unbroken1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Unbroken_ Hits the Ground Running Ahead of Weekend Box Office by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 25, 2014 9:14 PM CUT  Jack O'Connell stars as Louis “Louie” Zamperini in Unbroken Jack O'Connell stars as Louis “Louie” Zamperini in UnbrokenUniversal by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 25, 2014 9:14 PM CUT The starting line is crowded, but _Unbroken_ got off [on the right foot](https://variety.com/2014/film/news/angelina-jolies-unbroken-opens-with-850000-in-christmas-eve-showings-1201387272/ "undefined") this Christmas weekend box office. The Angelina Jolie-directed World War II drama [about the life of Olympic sprinter-turned-prisoner-of-war Louis Zamperini](http://time.com/3645696/unbroken-fact-check-true-story/ "undefined") brought in $850,000 in Christmas Eve screenings, _Variety_ reports. Close to 2,000 theaters in North America had showings that evening, and the film expands into 3,131 total on Christmas Day. Universal Pictures expects _Unbroken_ to gross approximately $17 million to $19 million at the box office by the end of the Christmas weekend. The competition is steep, however — the film is squaring off against a busy holiday season with returning hit _The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies_ (expected to top the box office with $30-35 million this weekend after taking in $6 million on Christmas Eve) and other wide releases such as _The Gambler,_ _Big Eyes_ and _Into the Woods_. \[[_Variety_](https://variety.com/2014/film/news/angelina-jolies-unbroken-opens-with-850000-in-christmas-eve-showings-1201387272/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3647193/unbroken-box-office-christmas-eve/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3647193/unbroken-box-office-christmas-eve/"},"headline":"Unbroken Hits the Ground Running Ahead of Weekend Box Office","datePublished":"2014-12-25T21:14:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:08:01.847Z","description":"But The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is expected to beat it over the four-day period","url":"https://time.com/3647193/unbroken-box-office-christmas-eve/","keywords":["movies","Angelina Jolie","Unbroken"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2254afbec892e20/69876ed65f570f6d5eb1436d/unbroken1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2254afbec892e20/69876ed65f570f6d5eb1436d/unbroken1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Unbroken","caption":"Unbroken","creditText":"Universal","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3647193/unbroken-box-office-christmas-eve/","name":"Unbroken Hits the Ground Running Ahead of Weekend Box Office"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Unbroken: Run Like Mad, The 1936 Olympics","description":"Unbroken: Run Like Mad, The 1936 Olympics","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/hbXb7kn7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-15T18:29:55.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hbXb7kn7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3647193/unbroken-box-office-christmas-eve/","duration":"PT2M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3647193/unbroken-box-office-christmas-eve/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```