“Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2” opens in top spot at box office

While many movies would kill for an estimated $101 million opening weekend at the box office, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 might have been wishing for a little more…after a dip in the franchise with the last movie, this latest entry opened at almost $20 million less.

“The Night Before”, a male buddy comedy starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, opened with $10.1 million.

“Part 2” saw ticket sales in the US and Canada fall below industry expectations of about $120 million.

And let’s be honest, any movie that grosses over $100 million in a weekend is a smash – particularly when its main theme is kids killing each other.

Two debuts also made the top five list. The romance fantasy film got an estimated domestic gross of $292 million, coupled with an estimated foreign gross of $537 million, for a total of $830 million. The films have garnered over $1 billion at the box office worldwide.Be sure to check out Design & Trend for further Hunger Games developments.

The first film took $152.5m (£100.6m), the second $158.1m (£104m) and 2014’s Mockingjay – Part 1, $121.9m (£80m).

“Part 2” did not have the odds in its favor. Not only has Lionsgate come up against tough genre competition in recent years – The Maze Runner and The Divergent Series, for instance – but releasing four blockbusters films in as many years errs on the side of franchise fatigue.

Jurassic World took $16 million, The Avengers: Age Of Ultron $15.7 million, Fast and Furious 7 $14.6 million, Spectre $11.3 million and Fifty Shades of Grey $10.4 million. The movie is a remake of an acclaimed Argentinian film by the same name.

As for “Games”, what accounts for the movie’s opening weekend performance?

The weakness of the new films allowed holdovers Spectre and The Peanuts Movie to pad their box office results.

Lionsgate split the final book in Suzanne Collins’ trilogy into two films, following the precedent of Twilight and Harry Potter.

In addition, some critics complained that the installment before this one, “Mockingjay – Part 1“, was marking time until this new movie.

“Thanksgiving represents a good opportunity for a really strong second weekend”, Dergarabedian said of “Mockingjay – Part 2”.

Mockingjay is more or less a supernatural disaster movie, and the visual effects under Francis Lawrence’s direction are superlative.