THE HOBBIT Projected to Hit $1 Billion Mark by March

According to Variety, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is set to hit the $1 billion worldwide box office mark by March. Only 14 other films have ever reached this achievement, including TITANIC and AVATAR.

On Monday, the film from New Line Cinema and MGM Pictures, reached $921 million worldwide. Over the weekend, it hit $288.7 million in domestic sales and $632.2 in international sales. THE HOBBIT opens in its final market, China, on Feb. 22.

A production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Pictures, it's the acclaimed first film in Oscar-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson's epic The Hobbit Trilogy, based on the timeless novel byJ.R.R. Tolkien.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior Thorin Oakenshield.

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