Katniss' last hurrah opened just above $100 million, while The Night Before and Secret In Their Eyes open soft and the holdovers fall hard.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 debuted in first with $102.6 million. That's well below the $121.8 million opening of 2014's Mockingjay - Part 1, which was well below the $158 million opening of 2013's Catching Fire. While this doesn't bode well for the potential future of the Hunger Games franchise, the $160 million finale is off to a great start. It snagged the eighth largest opening in November history - a mere $20k behind Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire's opening - and foreign territories already brought the worldwide total to $247.1 million. Four films, four massive successes.
Spectre was booted to second with $15 million (-55.3%). In three weeks, Spectre has made $154.1 million domestically. Made for $245 million, Spectre has already grossed $677.3 million worldwide, currently the 82nd highest grossing film of all time.
The Peanuts Movie placed in third with $13.2 million (-45.0%). That's another steep drop for the Peanuts, who are facing Pixar's The Good Dinosaur on Wednesday. The $99 million animation has already grossed $109.1 million worldwide and has many foreign territories to open in. Assuming they pull through, the Peanuts are safe.
The Night Before brought in $9.8 million in its debut weekend. Considering the star-power, that's a little weak, but the "A-" CinemaScore shows the film is in good shape to play well with the young adult audience throughout the holiday. Its $25 million budget is certainly in reach.
Secret In Their Eyes opened in fifth with $6.6 million. STX and Route 1 put out the film for $6.5 million so not much more is needed to cover the rest of the cost. Still, it's an underwhelming start with the talent involved. Negative reviews and a weak "B-" on CinemaScore aren't good signs going forward, plus adults are tired from The Martian, Bridge of Spies, Bond, the Oscar contenders in limited release, and all the other adult films released in the past month that were DOA. This one joins the club.
Love the Coopers plummeted to sixth with $4.1 million (-50.3%). That's not too surprising considering the weak reception the film received and another holiday film making its debut this weekend. The comedy has pulled in $15.1 million domestically, and is set to reach foreign territories throughout December. It will have to perform well there as the film has a $17 million budget to cover.
The Martian dropped to seventh with $3.7 million (-43.4%). That's the largest drop the film has received in its eight weeks of release. The $180 million sci-fi adventure has grossed $487.5 million worldwide.
Spotlight claimed eighth place with $3.5 million (+160.7%). The drama reached 598 theaters this weekend, and in three weeks has grossed $5.8 million domestically. With a tremendous 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and heaps of Oscar buzz, this $20 million production is just getting started at the box office.
The 33 fell to ninth place in its second weekend with $2.3 million (-59.5%). That's a steep drop for a film with an "A-" CinemaScore, although the film didn't have much word of mouth to spread with only a $5.7 million opening. Weak reviews from critics didn't help, and the onslaught of movies for adults kept attention away from the film. The $26 million film has pulled in $22.6 million worldwide so far and has a few foreign markets on the way that will need to bring support.
Bridge of Spies placed in tenth with $2 million (-53.0%). That steep drop is attributed to a loss of over 1,000 theaters, and Spotlight garnering attention. Still, the $40 million flick is already in the clear with $85.6 million worldwide.
Finally, all the way in 18th place sits My All-American which made an estimated $369k (-73.0%) in its second weekend. That "A" CinemaScore proved worthless with only $1.3 million to work with. The $20 million production has grossed $2.2 million domestically so far.
Thanksgiving weekend is ahead. Shove some turkey in your pockets and head to the cinema where you'll now have The Good Dinosaur, Creed, and Victor Frankenstein as options. Have a fun holiday!
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