Weekend Box Office: Not Quite As Hungry This Time

The series kicked off with a $152.5 million weekend in 2012 ” one of the highest openings of all time.

Mockingjay 2 was the last movie in the Hunger Games franchise and while many people including the Lionsgate’s management, thought that the franchise’s last part would go out with a bang, it did not.

Despite a few emotions and backstories not being as apparent as they should be, Mockingjay Part 2 ended the film series on a positive note. Ultimately, the cast that includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, and Julia Roberts wasn’t enough to save this film from the mixed reception.

The Night Before, the R-rated holiday-themed comedy starring Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie, opened to just $10 million to come in fourth-place. Splitting the 3rd book in two didn’t help with that either, quite the opposite, but I guess at the end of the day money talks and I’m sure the combined totals of Mockingjay – Part 1 and 2 will be much higher than what a single Mockingjay could have ever made.

STX, which bought domestic rights with Route One for $6.5 million, expressed confidence that the film would find its audience over the Thanksgiving period. The “Games” movies have set box office records in the past.

“Spectre” which took the 1st spot last week, dropped to second place with $14.6 million. As far as “Mockingjay – Part 2” going down as anyone’s favorite of the already-sloggy “Hunger Games” series, the odds are never in its favor. But with Katniss being Katniss, who always manages to “make things difficult” according to her mentor, Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), she sneaks off to District 2 anyway, where she joins Gale (Liam Hemsworth), the third side in her and Peeta’s love triangle, and other rebel soldiers in their quest to usurp the government. The series peaked, financially, with Catching Fire back in 2013, and the success of that transferred over to the next in the series, Mockingjay – Part One.

“Mockingjay, Part 2” opened with $102.7 million, putting all other films to shame from Friday through Sunday, according to box office tracker Rentrak. A $101 million opening is, of course, not bad by any measurement. It is the first time that all three characters have been together all at once for the majority of the movie; the issue takes full attention of several scenes.

The holiday movie season has had a robust start and should continue bringing in big box office numbers with two heavy hitters entering the fray next week. From four locations, “Carol’ collected $248,149 and a per-screen average of $62,037”.