Box Office: 'Mockingjay' Rules Quiet Weekend With $21.6 Million
With no new wide releases in the U.S, this weekend, Lionsgate's The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 topped the box office for the third time in a row with $21.6 million, bringing its domestic total to $257.7 million for a global cume of $560.5 million.
is on the brink of passing up Captain America: The Winter Solider ($259.7 million) to become the No. 2 title of the year in North America to date after Guardians of the Galaxy ($332 million), even as it continues to trail behind last year's The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
The weekend after Thanksgiving is historically slow as Hollywood studios recover from Thanksgiving and prepare for the Christmas crush. Revenue was down more than 17 percent from last year, but comparisons were always going to be tough because of the combined strength of Frozen and Catching Fire, which grossed $31.6 million and $26.2 million for the weekend, respectively.
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DreamWorks Animation's Penguins of Madagascar stayed at No. 2 in in its second outing with $11.1 million for a domestic total of $49.6 million, less than DWA would like. The animated family film fell 56 percent.
Horrible Bosses 2 placed No. 3, falling 44 percent to $8.6 million for a domestic cume of $36.1 million, well behind the first Horrible Bosses.
Disney's Big Hero 6, posing tough competition for Penguins, and Paramount's Interstellar rounded out the top five. Big Hero 6 grossed $8.1 million in its fifth weekend for a domestic total of $177.5 million in another victory for Disney Animation Studios. Overseas, where it has rolled out in its first 27 territories, the family film earned another $4 million for an early foreign total of $62.8 million and worldwide haul of $240.3 million. Big Hero 6 is already the biggest Disney Animation or Pixar title of all time in Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Interstellar grossed $8 million domestically for a new total of $158.7 million.
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Coming in No. 9 was found-footage horror The Pyramid. Fox opted for a limited release, versus nationwide, and opened the movie in 589 theaters. The Pyramid grossed $1.4 million, and was up 19 percent from Friday to Saturday, unusual for a horror title. Directed by , the Fox title stars , Denis O'Hare, James Buckley and as a group of archeologists who discover a vast pyramid buried under the Egyptian desert.
And Jake Gyllenhaal's indie crime thriller Nightcrawler crossed the $30 million mark domestically after earning $1.1 million over the weekend for Open Road Films.
Elsewhere, there was plenty of action at the specialty box office as awards season heats up.
Jean-Marc Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon, quickly hit its stride, grossing $630,000 from 21 theaters for location average of $30,000 and five-day debut of $677,238 (it opened Wednesday). The Fox Searchlight drama is based on Cheryl Strayed's memoir of hiking more than 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, and many expect Witherspoon to earn an Oscar nomination for best actress.
Fellow awards contender The Imitation Game continued to impress in its second weekend. The Weinstein Co. entry, starring as famed Enigma code-breaker Alan Turing, grossed roughly $402,000 from eight theaters in New York and Los Angeles for a location average of $50,196 and cume of $1 million.
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Sony Pictures Classics' Foxcatcher, now in its fourth weekend, grossed $574,727 as it expanded into a total of 75 theaters for a location average of $7,663 and domestic total of $2.8 million. Directed by Bennett Miller, the boxing drama stars Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo.
Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything and Birdman, both of which are playing nationwide, stayed in the top 10. Theory of Everything came in No. 7 with $2.7 million from 826 theaters for a U.S. cume of $13.6 million.
Birdman, placing No. 10, grossed $1.2 million for a U.S. cume of $18.9 million.
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