Mockingjay--Part 2 remains nearly 18% behind its predecessor here in North America, and its box office reign is likely to end next weekend, but the series finale has earned $296.8 million overseas (which is already more than the first Hunger Games film did outside North America) for a worldwide total of $523 million. While it didn’t fulfill the loftiest expectations of its backers, Mockingjay--Part 2 is now the highest grossing film of the fall season having eclipsed The Martian’s domestic total of $220 million.
Almost no one expected that Universal’s seasonal horror film Krampus would top The Good Dinosaur, but the horror/comedy surpassed expectations and finished second with just over $16 million. Reviews for Krampus were solid (currently 64% positive on Rotten Tomatoes, a good rating for any sort of horror film). Opening weekend audiences, which were youthful (50% under 21), gave the movie an OK “B” CinemaScore, which could indicate problems ahead, but horror movie crowds tend to be harsh graders, and Krampus, which is based on the legend of a demon who torments people without the Christmas spirit, should have a strong couple weeks ahead. Don’t expect Krampus to be out on video too soon, since the movie has a good chance to become a “cult” holiday favorite, the studio will likely wait till Q4 of 2016 to exploit Krampus’s home entertainment potential.
Ryan Coogler’s Creed, a boxing drama with deep roots in the Rocky franchise, dropped just 48% in its second frame as it added $15.54 million to bring its 10-day total to $65.1 million. It will be interesting to see if Creed will be able to maintain this momentum through the rest of the month. Coogler, who both wrote and directed Creed, is in talks to direct Marvel’s Black Panther, which automatically raises the expectations for that project.
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Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): December 4-6, 2015 |
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|
Film |
Weekend Gross |
Screens |
Avg./Screen |
Total Gross |
Wk# |
|
|
1 |
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 |
$18,600,000 |
4,086 |
$4,552 |
$227,112,000 |
3 |
|
2 |
Krampus |
$16,020,000 |
2,902 |
$5,520 |
$16,020,000 |
1 |
|
3 |
Creed |
$15,540,000 |
3,424 |
$4,539 |
$65,137,556 |
2 |
|
4 |
The Good Dinosaur |
$15,512,000 |
3,749 |
$4,138 |
$75,951,530 |
2 |
|
5 |
Spectre |
$5,425,000 |
2,840 |
$1,910 |
$184,520,343 |
5 |
|
6 |
The Night Before |
$4,920,000 |
2,794 |
$1,761 |
$31,988,311 |
3 |
|
7 |
The Peanuts Movie |
$3,525,000 |
2,917 |
$1,208 |
$121,437,699 |
5 |
|
8 |
Spotlight |
$2,926,844 |
980 |
$2,987 |
$16,632,541 |
5 |
|
9 |
Brooklyn |
$2,430,000 |
906 |
$2,682 |
$11,210,023 |
5 |
|
10 |
The Secret in their Eyes |
$1,950,000 |
2,147 |
$908 |
$17,241,088 |
3 |
Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur followed its lackluster debut with a troubling 60% second weekend drop-off. With its weekend box office total now estimated at $15.5 million, it will take until final numbers are released tomorrow to determine the final order. The Good Dinosaur’s 60% drop is way more than Toy Story 2 (51%), Frozen (53%), and Tangled (55%), all of which were released at Thanksgiving.
Spectre, the latest James Bond film, spent its fifth weekend in theaters in fifth place, earning $5.4 million and bringing its total to $184.5 million. Spectre was followed closely by the R-rated comedy The Night Before, which dropped 41% in its third frame as it earned $4.9 million and brought its total to $32 million.
The Peanuts Movie dropped 64% in its fifth frame as it added $3.5 million to bring its total to $121.5 million. It looks like it might finish its run just north of $130 million, which is also where The Good Dinosaur should end up.
Two Oscar-hunting adult dramas, the priest sex abuse scandal docudrama Spotlight, and the coming-of-age drama Brooklyn continued to enjoy modest success in the lower portion of the top ten. In its tenth weekend in theaters, The Martian slipped to #11 as it added $1.6 million to bring its domestic total to over $220 million—it should finish its run around the $230 million mark.
The Letters, a biography of Mother Theresa, earned just $800,000 from nearly 900 theaters, which is far less than the $1.25 million from 305 theaters brought in by Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq, an updating of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, which also happens to be the first film produced by Amazon’s film division. Chi-Raq’s $4,099 per theater average may have been inflated by showings in the Chicago area, but we may never know since most theater owners are boycotting the film for fear that Amazon will stream the movie in the near future and not give theater owners their typical 90-day window from a film’s theatrical release to its appearance on DVD (and streaming services).
Be sure to check back here next week to see how Ron Howard’s 19th Century whaling epic In the Heart of the Sea, which stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor), will fare as the only major film opening during the weekend preceding the much-anticipated debut of the new Star Wars film.
