Mockingjay Part 2 Box Office Results Worst in the Series

But it was the quietest first weekend for the series, which began in 2012.

Franchise fatigue likely played a role.

Mockingjay Part 2 might have been long awaited by fans around the world, but its box office earnings seem to have fallen flat of expectations. Is the series bleeding?

“Who has ever had to defend an $100 million opening before?” Plus this is the final chapter. “Mockingjay – Part 2” was initially predicted to bring in at least $120 million, but the opening weekend numbers fell short of the target, to the dismay of production. The series high is the second movie, Catching Fire, which opened to a colossal $158 million in 2013.

Then again, while $248 million total is an impressive number, last year’s Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1 opened at $274.9. But what they didn’t know, was that Lawrence was being fed instructions, via her own secret earpiece, from her co-stars Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson as well as Smosh superfan Dylan Miceli-Nelson. Still, $101 million is nothing to sneeze at and worldwide returns will make this the most profitable Lionsgate franchise for the foreseeable future. Even if one does adjust for inflation, a top-grossing movie like “Gone With the Wind” and “The Sound of Music” came along about once every decade.

Spectre drew $14.6M to bring its three-week domestic haul to $153.7M, while The Peanuts Movie pulled $12.8M to bring its total to $98.9M. The Weinstein Company is set to expand the limited release next weekend and take the movie nationwide in the following weeks.

The Night Before opened in 4th with $9.9 million.

Sony’s new buddy Christmas comedy “The Night Before” with Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie was no match for Katniss – or James Bond or Charlie Brown. Overall, the initial reviews appeared to be more positive than those for Part 1. “And partly the brilliance of that genius child, Jennifer, to get it done, but it has to, otherwise we’re lost”.

Secret in Their Eyes rounds out the top 5 with a $6.7 million debut.

It’s not like Lionsgate is going to be losing money on this film, as it’ll continue to do well at the box office, but the fact that the “payoff” film did worse than a fairly mediocre Part 1 is fairly surprising.

The analyst is also quick to point out a weekend opening over $100 million should be considered a massive success.