The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 rebounded from slightly disappointing opening to post a very strong hold over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, earning an estimated $56.9 million and driving its domestic total to $225.7 million. But two newcomers, the family-targeting animated feature Penguins of Madagascar and the R-rated comedy sequel Horrible Bosses 2 both performed at the low end of expectations, so in spite of the continued strength of Disney’s Big Hero Six and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, the total of the top 12 films was down a significant 20% from the same weekend last year, when The Hunger Games: Catching Fire continued its box office domination as it earned a superb $74.2 million in its second weekend.Catching Fire, which ended up with $423 million in domestic earnings, dropped only 53.1% in its second frame, a percentage that Mockingjay, Part 1 nearly matched with its 53.3% drop. Let’s face it, a second weekend drop in the low 50% region is a huge win for today’s heavily-hyped and increasingly front-loaded blockbusters. This is especially true for Mockingjay, Part 1, which is basically just a table-setter for the franchise finale, which is due next year. While Mockingjay, Part 1 won’t catch Catching Fire’s domestic total, it now appears that $300 million domestic is very likely, and surpassing Guardians of the Galaxy’s $330 million 2014-leading total is also a possibility if Mockingjay continues its strong hold. With no major releases at all next weekend, Catching Fire will have little competition until Riddley Scott’s Exodus debuts on December 12th. Overseas Mockingjay has already earned $240 million and will likely make up some of the $100 million or so that will likely separate its domestic total from Catching Fire’s $423 million North American earnings.
Given its status as a sequel to a popular animated franchise, Dreamworks’ Penguins of Madagascar debuted at the low end of expectations and dangerously close to the same studio’s Rise of the Guardians, which opened over this same weekend two years ago, earning $23 million compared with Penguins’ $25.8 million. Rise of the Guardians was a huge disappointment that earned just $103.4 million domestically. Penguins attracted an audience that was 51% female and 58% under 25. Caucasians made up 48% of the crowd, followed by 23% Asian, 18% Hispanic, and 12% African American.
Penguins of Madagascar’s opening appeared particularly weak because it was not able to knockout Disney’s Big Hero Six, which dropped just 6.7% in its fourth weekend in theaters as it earned $18.8 million and brought its domestic total to $167.2 million. It could be that the exposure of Dreamworks’ properties such as the Penguins of Madagascar and How to Train Your Dragon on TV has made these franchises less attractive on the big screen (are you noting this trend, DC Comics and Warner Bros.?), or perhaps audiences are just seeking out the better film (Big Hero Six).
Christopher Nolan’s science fiction epic Interstellar, which debuted a month ago with Big Hero Six, also continues to post strong holds. Interstellar’s revenue grew 3% over last week as the film earned $15.8 million and drove its domestic total to $147 million, which is just 27.1% of the film’s $542.3 million worldwide total.
| Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): November 28-30, 2014 | ||||||
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| Film | Weekend Gross | Screens | Avg./ Screen | Total Gross | Wk# |
| 1 | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 | $56,875,000 | 4,151 | $13,702 | $225,693,000 | 2 |
| 2 | Penguins of Madagascar | $25,800,000 | 3,764 | $6,854 | $36,000,000 | 1 |
| 3 | Big Hero 6 | $18,770,000 | 3,365 | $5,578 | $167,209,000 | 4 |
| 4 | Interstellar | $15,800,000 | 3,066 | $5,153 | $147,090,000 | 4 |
| 5 | Horrible Bosses 2 | $15,700,000 | 3,375 | $4,652 | $23,010,000 | 1 |
| 6 | Dumb and Dumber To | $8,295,000 | 3,130 | $2,650 | $72,205,000 | 3 |
| 7 | The Theory of Everything | $5,082,000 | 802 | $6,337 | $9,604,000 | 4 |
| 8 | Gone Girl | $2,470,000 | 1,174 | $2,104 | $160,757,000 | 9 |
| 9 | Birdman | $1,880,000 | 710 | $2,648 | $17,237,400 | 7 |
| 10 | St. Vincent | $1,773,000 | 1,256 | $1,412 | $39,327,000 | 8 |
This week’s other new wide release, the R-rated comedy Horrible Bosses 2 debuted in fifth place with just 15.7 million, a far cry from the $28 million that the original Horrible Bosses earned on its opening weekend. Dropping this film on Thanksgiving may have been a huge blunder, and if so, Horrible Bosses 2 should gain some momentum next weekend. Otherwise, this film, which attracted an audience that was 51% male and 59% over 25, will be dead in the water. The good news for Warner Bros. is that Horrible Bosses cost just $43 million to make, so losses, if any, should be minimal.
The Stephen Hawking biopic, The Theory of Everything, expanded to 800 theaters and earned $5 million. Other "commercial" highbrow films include Alejandro Inarritu’s Birdman, which has earned $17.2 million, and the Benedict Cumberbatch-starring The Imitation Game, which debuted in 4 theaters and earned a sterling $120,500 per venue. It will be interesting to see which of these Oscar hopefuls finds success at the box office in Q4.
Check back here next week to see what happens as Tinseltown stands pat with no new widely-released films set to challenge the holdovers.
--Tom Flinn
