Headlines were hard to come by this weekend, with most films’ historic highs and lows coming with caveats and qualifications. Mockingjay Part 2 landed in number one for the second week in a row, with $51.6 million domestically for the three-day weekend. At 49%, it’s the smallest first-to-second-weekend drop for any of The Hunger Games movies, even though otherwise it’s still the weakest performing of the franchise. At $440 million worldwide, the one thing it’s easy to call it is a hit.
Landing in second was Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur, marketed almost like it was an emo indie, which grossed $39.19 million for the three-day weekend and $55.5 million for the five-day, making it the fourth-biggest Thanksgiving release of all time (not adjusted for inflation). Compared to other Pixar openings though, it was the worst since Toy Story in 1995. Estimates put the budget near $200 million. Another caveat: this was the first time Pixar has ever released two films in the same year.
Obviously, the Wednesday opening played a role in that number being a little softer, but even if you compare the $55.5M five-day to previous Pixar three-day openings it ranks no higher than twelfth, five million behind the $60.1 million Cars tallied back in 2006. [BoxOfficeMojo]
In third was Creed, the week’s closest thing to an unqualified success. Its $30.1 three-day/$42.6 five-day opening was the best of the Rocky franchise not adjusted for inflation (second to Rocky IV adjusted for inflation), and pretty huge given it relatively modest production budget reported to be around $35 million. “The film played 66% male, 62% over-25 and 26% 35-49 years old.”
Creed should continue to play on the strength of strong reviews and being generally well-liked, just like the band it was named after. (I’m sorry, this is the last time I’ll be legally allowed to make a Creed-Creed joke, I had to take advantage.)
The last new release of the weekend was Victor Frankenstein, which earned just $2.35 for the three-day and $3.4 for the five-day weekend. Counting just its weekend gross would make it the worst opening ever for a film opening in more than 2500 locations. Though that’s a little unfair, since opening earlier in the weekend waters down the weekend gross a little bit. Nonetheless, its $711 per-screen average is second worst of the year behind Jem and the Holograms. And the reviews aren’t doing it many favors either. On a positive note, it grossed $2 million in Russia.
Stats for the new releases:
Creed, A Cinemascore; 93% on RottenTomatoes.
The Good Dinosaur, A Cinemascore; 77% on RottenTomatoes.
Victor Frankenstein, C Cinemascore; 23% on RottenTomatoes.
Next week brings us just one wide release, Krampus, along with a few limited releases, like Life, The Letters, Macbeth, and Youth.
| Film | Weekend | Per Screen | ||
| 1 | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 | $52,600,000 (-49%) | $12,359 | $198,312,000 |
| 2 | The Good Dinosaur | $39,192,000 | $10,454 | $55,565,000 |
| 3 | Creed | $30,120,000 | $8,848 | $42,600,000 |
| 4 | Spectre | $12,800,000 (-14%) | $4,354 | $176,056,000 |
| 5 | The Peanuts Movie | $9,700,000 (-26%) |
$3,140 | $116,757,000 |
| 6 | The Night Before | $8,200,000 (-17%) | $2,770 | $24,102,000 |
| 7 | The Secret in Their Eyes | $4,502,000 (-32%) | $1,882 | $14,031,000 |
| 8 | Spotlight | $4,495,000 (+27%) | $5,011 | $12,347,000 |
| 9 | Brooklyn | $3,832,000 (+230%) | $4,535 | $7,289,000 |
| 10 | The Martian | $3,300,000 (-13%) | $2,324 | $218,640,000 |
[Chart via ScreenCrush]