With ‘Force Awakens’ looming, ‘Heart of the Sea’ sinks

With In the Heart of the Sea flailing, Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 captured first place for the fourth straight weekend with $US11.3 million.

Overall, industry-wide totals were modest as exhibitors eagerly awaited next week’s can’t-miss blockbuster, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But Katniss and the rest proved triumphant in the final analysis, inching ahead to earn $11.3 million according to studio estimates. The dismal opening for the seafaring tale is the latest big budget bomb for Warner Brothers, a studio who is all too happy to see 2015 come to a close.

In the Heart of the Sea is based on Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick, and centres on Hemsworth, 32, as a crew member on the Essex whale ship which was sunk by a giant whale sperm in 1820.

Goldstein said he was optimistic that the film will perform well in the long term once word of mouth spreads among its audience, which was mostly male (54 percent) and older than 35 (68 percent). The opening was propelled to even greater heights after the film landed four Golden Globe nominations (including best picture/comedy) on Thursday and a SAG Award nomination for best ensemble cast which includes Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale and Steve Carell.

In third with $10.5 million was Disney s animated “The Good Dinosaur”.

Fourth was the Rocky sequel “Creed” with $10.1 million.

Ron Howard’s “In the Heart of the Sea” has failed to get traction at the Box Office as its marketing drive gets drowned by Star Wars. “There’s no question but that when you open up an adult movie in December, it’s all about the multiple”. Outside of the “Thor” movies, Hemsworth has struggled to establish himself as a box office draw – “Rush” and this year’s cyber thriller “Blackhat” both fizzled. Where available, the latest global numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included.

Krampus took a typical horror fall, slipping three spots to #5 with $8 million in its second week. Its 50% drop gave it $8 million for the weekend.

After a nine-month delay, In the Heart of the Sea arrived on 3,103 screens this weekend where it went on to earn a waterlogged $11 million. The Peanuts Movie was at eighth and $2.6 million.