The Hunger Games disappoints at box office

For most films this would be a coup, but the series had its own records to beat, and this sets a new low for the four-film franchise.

And while Mockingjay, Pt. 2 may have had the weakest debut of the four films in the franchise with a $101 million box office take on its opening weekend, it was still the top-grossing film of the weekend.

Although it’s the lowest performing film in the series, the Jennifer Lawrence-starring picture still had the fifth-biggest opening this year. In 2013 Catching Fire caught $158.1 million opening weekend and $424.7 million overall.

Two people involved in the “Hunger Games” film series have expressed their desire to explore further the world that Suzanne Collins invented. With a $99.35 domestic total, the film is nearly at the $100 million mark, and it will most likely make its way there before Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur opens this week.

The production budget for Mockingjay, Part 1 was $125 million, so we imagine Part 2 was probably around $150, so despite what the studio says, they’re probably a little disappointed that their final Hunger Games movie didn’t open to bigger numbers.

Paul Dergarabedian, media analyst at Rentrak, added that it showed how well something relatively new can take off. Mockingjay – Part 2 had to struggle to inch past $100 million its opening weekend. Meanwhile, Oscar contenders Spotlight (weekend gross $3.6 million, total gross $5.8 million) and Brooklyn (weekend gross $1.1 million, total gross $2.1 million) both benefited from an expanded theatre count, seeing their grosses jump 166% and 139% from last weekend, respectively. I failed to attend a critics screening in my region but some of the complaints I’ve read are regarding the excessive level of violence – like it should have been Rated R, not PG-13. The latest James Bond flick dropped almost 57% in attendance. Past year Mockingjay – Part 1 began its box office run with $121.9 million only to finish at $337.1 million.

“Secret In Their Eyes”, a murder mystery starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman, scored $6.7 million in its first weekend. Realistically (considering Star Wars is so close now) it’s probably going to stop around $280 million, which is still a great result.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at USA and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Final domestic figures will be released today.