In one of those weird box office stories where a massive opening is perceived as a slight disappointment, Mockingjay-Part 2 topped the charts this weekend as expected, but with "only" 101 million, about 20 million or so off predictions and over a 50 percent drop from the last movie's opening weekend. What does this mean? Well, how about the studios stop splitting the final book in a successful series into two unnecessary movies that makes both of them worse than if it had been one film? That's what I would take from this, but the truth is, how can anything that makes 100 million on a debut weekend be labeled disappointing? Yes, it'll make less than the other films in the series, but in fairness, this was also by far the worst book. I'm just happy these things are over.
The other releases didn't make 15 million, with Seth Rogen's The Night Before coming in with 10 million, and Julia Roberts' thriller The Secret in Their Eyes, opening with just 6.6 million, the lowest of her career. Spectre and The Peanuts Movie filled out the holdovers, with Spectre's total rising to 153 million, and Peanuts closing in on 100, with 98.9 million in the bank.
Top 5:
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 2- 101 million
- Spectre- 14.6 million
- The Peanuts Movie- 12.8 million
- The Night Before- 10.1 million
- The Secret in Their Eyes- 6.6 million
In the specialty box office, Carol opened strong in 4 theaters with 248k and a 62k per screen average, good for the third highest PTA of the year, behind Steve Jobs and Sicario. Of course, the story with these is all about expansion, but you can probably count on The Weinstein Co. to make sure this Oscar contender is not perceived as a failure, so look for a slow rollout. Spotlight meanwhile, expanded to about 600 locations and earned over 3 million, marking its entry into the top ten as it looks to bring in the adult audience over the next two months. Thanksgiving week sees the debuts of Pixar's The Good Dinosaur and Creed, along with Victor Frankenstein and The Danish Girl in limited release. I'm personally rooting for Creed next week, but we'll see how it goes. See you after Turkey Day everybody.
