As expected The Hunger Games: Mockingjay--Part 1 topped the weekend box office with the highest debut of 2014 so far, an estimated $123 million.  But the penultimate Hunger Games film’s debut was down 22% from the opening of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($158.1 million), and in spite of strong holds from Disney’s Big Hero 6 and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, the box office total of the top 12 films was down 15.4% from the same weekend last year when Catching Fire debuted.
 
Some will no doubt play the lower opening figures for Mockingjay--Part 1 into some sort of a big deal, but the decline was to be expected given that Lionsgate decided to break the final Hunger Games novel up into two parts, which means that Part 1 provides mostly set-up and context for Part 2.  Critics gave Part 1 the lowest rating yet for a Hunger Games film (67% positive), and opening weekend audiences gave Part 1 an "A-" CinemaScore compared with the "A" earned by Catching Fire.
 
It also appears that Mockingjay--Part 1 played closer to the Hunger Games core audience than Catching Fire with 60% of the crowd female compared with 57% for Catching Fire, and 52% of the Mockingjay crowd under 25 versus an even split for the previous Hunger games film.  The somewhat less robust than expected opening for Mockingjay doesn’t spell decline for the franchise, the finale will score a bigger opening, but it does open the door for James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy to retain its spot as the highest-grossing film of 2014 in the domestic market (GotG is currently at $331 million and not likely to go much higher).  Right now it looks as if the race for 2014 domestic box office supremacy could be very tight indeed.
 
Meanwhile Mockingjay--Part 1 is doing a bit better than Catching Fire overseas (up 4%) where it has already earned $152 million.  Still with its debut in China delayed (for political reasons—the saga of youthful rebellion against a tyrannical government strikes a little too close to home for a regime dealing with a youth revolt of its own in Hong Kong) until 2015, it may take some time before the full extent of the film’s overseas haul is known.

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): November 21-23, 2014

 

Film

Weekend Gross

Screens

Avg./

Screen

Total Gross

Wk#

1

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Pt. 1

$123,000,000

4,151

$29,631

$123,000,000

1

2

Big Hero 6

$20,086,000

3,650

$5,503

$135,708,000

3

3

Interstellar

$15,100,000

3,415

$4,422

$120,692,000

3

4

Dumb and Dumber To

$13,820,000

3,188

$4,335

$57,473,000

2

5

Gone Girl

$2,815,000

1,609

$1,750

$156,823,000

8

6

Beyond the Lights

$2,630,000

1,766

$1,489

$10,124,000

2

7

St. Vincent

$2,354,000

1,707

$1,379

$36,613,000

7

8

Fury

$1,900,000

1,720

$1,105

$79,150,000

6

9

Birdman

$1,855,000

862

$2,152

$14,407,000

6

10

The Theory of Everything

$1,500,000

140

$10,714

$2,796,000

3


Disney’s Big Hero 6 remained a solid #2 thanks to just a 42.1% that added $20 million bringing its domestic total to $135.8 million.  The moment of truth for Big Hero 6 comes this weekend when Dreamworks’ The Penguins of Madagascar opens. 
 
Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar also continued to hang tough, dropping 46.7% and adding $15.1 million to bring its domestic total to $120.7 million.  Interstellar has so far earned 33% of its total from IMAX showings (in fact one of the reasons that Mockingjay--Part 1 had a lower opening total was a dearth of IMAX screens--with Interstellar continuing to do well in the pricy, jumbo screen format).  Overseas Interstellar continues its strong showing running its total to $225.8 million, which is 65.2% of its worldwide cumulative of $346.5 million.
 
Last week’s winner Dumb and Dumber 2 dropped 61.7% in its second frame.  This would not be a bad drop for a big action tentpole, but it is drastic for a comedy.  Perhaps the bad reviews and lukewarm word-of-mouth has caught up with Dumb and Dumber 2, though the film could well bounce back over the coming holiday week.  Still the comedy added $13.8 million to bring its domestic total to $57.5 million, so, barring a complete collapse, it should finish in the black.
 
Gone Girl has remained in the top ten for 8 straight weekends.  The neo-noir thriller added $2.8 million to bring its domestic total to $156.8 million.  Other films that continue to show signs of life include the Bill Murray character comedy St. Vincent, which is on course to be the indie comedy hit of the fall/winter season, and Alejandro Inarritu’s Birdman, an art house "hit" that has now earned $14.4 million, and could be a likely candidate for an Award Season revival if the film (and star Michael Keaton) nab the expected nominations.
 
Be sure to check back here next week.  Only two new films will be in wide release, Dreamworks’ Penguins of Madagascar and the "R" rated comedy sequel Horrible Bosses 2, so there will be opportunities for some holdovers to do well.

--Tom Flinn