But Mockingjay—Part 2 was not able to shake to box office out of its lethargic autumn season. With the weekend’s other two newcomers also disappointing, the R-rated comedy The Night Before opened with just $10 million (about 60% of most analysts’ projections), while The Secret in Their Eyes’ debut was the worst in Julia Roberts career, the overall box office was off 13.1% from the same frame last year when Part 1 opened and 24% from two years ago when The Hunger Games: Catching Fire bowed.
So the question becomes was Mockingjay—Part 2 down because the storyline in the final volume of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy lacks the vibrant plot elements that made the first two Hunger Games installments so popular, or more troublingly, is this just a manifestation of the gradual erosion of theater-going in an era that offers a plethora of other entertainment options like Amazon’s adaptation of The Man in the High Castle and Netflix’s take on Marvel Comics heroine Jessica Jones, both of which made their streaming debuts this weekend? Maybe it’s a bit of both, since the Mockingjay plot line lacks much of the pageantry and over-the-top media satire that characterized the first two volumes in the trilogy and their movie adaptations, but Hollywood insiders are way too savvy to ignore the fast moving and dynamic changes in distribution of video product.
While the reviews for Mockingjay—Part 2 were less stellar than for the first two installments, they were still rated 70% positive on Rotten Tomatoes, and opening weekend audiences, which were heavily female (63%) and younger (52% under 25, with 37% between 18 and 24), gave the film a solid “A-“ CinemaScore, so there is hope that Part 2 will end up with a domestic total in the same neighborhood as its predecessor somewhere around $285 million.
|
Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): November 20-22, 2015 |
||||||
|
Film |
Weekend Gross |
Screens |
Avg./Screen |
Total Gross |
Wk# |
|
|
1 |
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 |
$101,025,000 |
4,175 |
$24,198 |
$101,025,000 |
1 |
|
2 |
Spectre |
$14,600,000 |
3,659 |
$3,990 |
$153,702,879 |
3 |
|
3 |
The Peanuts Movie |
$12,800,000 |
3,671 |
$3,487 |
$98,943,137 |
3 |
|
4 |
The Night Before |
$10,100,000 |
2,960 |
$3,412 |
$10,100,000 |
1 |
|
5 |
The Secret in their Eyes |
$6,633,000 |
2,392 |
$2,773 |
$6,633,000 |
1 |
|
6 |
Love the Coopers |
$3,925,000 |
2,603 |
$1,508 |
$14,919,225 |
2 |
|
7 |
The Martian |
$3,700,000 |
2,086 |
$1,774 |
$213,039,442 |
8 |
|
8 |
Spotlight |
$3,603,466 |
598 |
$6,026 |
$5,879,577 |
3 |
|
9 |
The 33 |
$2,240,000 |
2,452 |
$914 |
$9,900,692 |
2 |
|
10 |
Bridge of Spies |
$1,945,000 |
1,532 |
$1,270 |
$65,177,412 |
6 |
Holdovers Spectre ($14.6 million) and The Peanuts Movie ($12.8 million) did about what was expected in the face of competition from the Hunger Games finale, but they weren’t expected to land in second and third place respectively. The “R” rated seasonal comedy The Night Before was supposed to come in at #2, but instead it tumbled to #4, as it opened far less robustly than most analysts had expected. There is box office hope The Night Before because it received an “A-“ Cinemascore, and comedies can hang around if they catch on, but its disappointing debut indicates that The Night Before will not be challenging the likes of Spy and Trainwreck for the “R” rated comedy of 2015. Audiences for The Night Before were young, with 52% under 25 (and only 7% over 45), and skewed male (55%).
The Secret in Their Eyes is a remake of an excellent Argentinian film, about a prosecutor who manages to track down a murderer with powerful political connections in what is essentially a military dictatorship. The remake stars Julia Roberts as the prosecutor and it posted the lowest opening total in the star’s career for a film debuting in more than 200 theaters, earning just $6.5 million. With a poor “B-“ CinemaScore, this film is the second “star” vehicle to disappoint in as many weeks, following the disastrous limited debut of the Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt-starring By the Sea.
The only remarkable showing in the bottom half of the top ten belongs to Spotlight, the adult drama about the Boston Globe’s investigative reporting into the Priest-abuse scandals, which expanded to 598 theaters and earned $3.6 million with a solid $6,026 per-theater average, second (in the top ten) only to Mockingjay Part 2’s $24,198.
Be sure to check back here next weekend to see how the box office fared over the Thanksgiving weekend with a trio of new films including the Pixar/Disney original animation film The Good Dinosaur, the sci-fi/horror entry Victor Frankenstein, and the sports drama Creed starring Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone.
