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Box Office Weekend: $100 Million for Hunger Games…But Is It Starving?

Seth Paul
Box Office Weekend

While many movies would kill for an estimated $101 million opening weekend at the box office, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 might have been wishing for a little more…after a dip in the franchise with the last movie, this latest entry opened at nearly $20 million less. While unlikely to be considered a flop (it is getting decent enough reviews, and the The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 Posterworldwide gross for the franchise amounts in the billions), it may have been more disappointing than expected. Whatever the reason, it is not the only movie to have trouble at the box office.

While Spectre (estimated $14.6 million) is doing quite nicely with its worldwide gross, The Peanuts Movie (estimated $12.8 million) cannot be saved by rave reviews alone, entering its third week it is only halfway to breaking even. Nor did portents favor the latest Seth Rogen comedy The Night Before, with an estimated $10.1 million on a $25 million budget. Also debuting this week, though with no budget numbers reported, The Secret in Their Eyes (estimated $6.6 million), a remake of an Argentinian thriller with an all-star cast, is likely not making the kind of money needed for success.

Love the Coopers is not finding the love it needs either, still faltering with an estimated $3.9 million weekend with $14.9 million in total gross. In the meantime, The Martian still remains the top earner of the field with an estimated $3.7 million adding to a profitable $213 million domestic gross. Entering wider release (adding 537 theaters), Spotlight, an investigative thriller about the 2001 Catholic Church scandal, earned critical acclaim and a bump in its finances with an estimated $3.6 million, but its $5.8 million in gross may not be enough to make up for its credentialed cast. And continuing the roughed up nature of the box office, The 33 fell several spots as it landed in ninth with an estimated $2.2 million and, at $9.9 million in total, not much to speak of.

And, in the final spot, Bridge of Spies, with an estimated $1.9 weekend gross, will leave the list as one of the worst-earning films in the career of Steven Spielberg and the worst performer in a decade (beating out Munich and its $47.4 million), barely breaking even in worldwide gross despite its critical reception.

Weekend Box Office (November 20th – November 22nd)

  1. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2…$101 million
  2. Spectre…$14.6 million
  3. The Peanuts Movie…$12.8 million
  4. The Night Before…$10.1 million
  5. The Secret in Their Eyes…$6.6 million
  6. Love the Coopers…$3.9 million
  7. The Martian…$3.7 million
  8. Spotlight…$3.6 million
  9. The 33…$2.2 million
  10. Bridge of Spies…$1.9 million

Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."
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