‘The Hunger Games – Mockingjay Part 2’ Opens to Series Low $101

Conservative blog Breitbart.com’s film critic John Nolte claimed on Sunday that the final film of the Hunger Games franchise is suffering at the box office because of actress Jennifer Lawrence’s recent remarks in the media about politics and religion.

The series starring Jennifer Lawrence kicked off with a bang in March 2012 with a massive $152.5 million weekend – one of the highest openings of all time. While it may have seemed a slightly awkward solution for fans of Suzanne Collins’ bestselling books, it carried special resonance for the cast and crew of the “Hunger Games” films. 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. On the other hand, “Catching Fire” peaked at $158 million in November 2013 while “Mockingjay – Part 1” started with $122 million. The total also meant the film managed to have the fifth highest opening of 2015 (behind Minions, Furious 7, Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Jurassic World), however, it is still surprisingly low compared to the rest of the instalment’s takings in their respective first weekends of release.

Speaking of Spotlight, the newspaper thriller jumped into the top 10, moving four spaces from 12th to the 8th spot. It cost $19.5 million to produce, and is the latest in a string of adult-driven films such as By the Sea and Steve Jobs, to struggle at the box office this fall. “The overall franchise has grossed over $2 billion worldwide and counting”, shared David Spitz, Lionsgate co-president of theatrical distribution.

“People love this movie”, said Bruer.

Meanwhile, the drama, which teamed Roberts and Chiwetel Ejiofor as well as Nicole Kidman, opened to approximately $6.6 million from 2,392 locations, marking the worst debut of Roberts’ career for a movie opening in 2,000 or more theaters. The movie, which broke box office records over the summer, was Walker’s final film and ultimately became a kind of send-off to him.

Lionsgate, which spent roughly US$160 million to make Part 2, had no comment about the film’s domestic results.

“This has been a very brightly burning franchise for a relatively short amount of time”, Dergarabedian said – one that has increasingly appealed to an older crowd and not just teenage girls. “But… we have a little secret weapon in Star Wars”.

Final figures are expected Monday.