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Posted December 14, 2015 by Seth Paul in News
 
 

Box Office Weekend: Hunger Games Tops Box Office for Fourth Week


With the box office slowing this weekend (quite possibly in part due to the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens next weekend), not much was able to make a splash…an ironic statement, maybe, as The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 held off the Ron Howard epic In the Heart of the Sea for a fourth week stay in first. The account of the true story behind Moby Dick could barely mount an estimated $11 million against Mockingjay – Part 2 and its estimated $11.3 million, spelling almost certain disaster. Even overseas money is not adding too much to the coffers…which is not much of an issue for The Good Dinosaur (estimated $10.5 million), though considering the average cost of a Pixar venture, it should be doing much better than it is.

Creed (estimated $10.1 million) released its budget numbers, and things are looking good for the latest in the Rocky series, so far earning $79.3 million on a $35 million budget and still staying strong. Krampus (estimated $8 million), in the meantime, is pushing closer to breaking even on its $15 million budget domestically, but is already doing decent business with its foreign market earnings. Spectre, in the meantime, with its estimated $4 million, will not topple the breakaway success of the previous entry Skyfall, but any investor upset that the movie has made $820.6 million worldwide (and is the second-highest earning Bond film of the series) may be being a little too critical.

With two theatrical flops up next, The Night Before (estimated $3.9 million) shows that Seth Rogen may not be able to carry a film solely on name recognition anymore as it cannot even make up its scant $25 million budget with overseas money…and neither, sadly, will The Peanuts Movie. Despite good reviews, the production (estimated $2.7 million on the weekend) was only able to make a worldwide total of $141.6 million in gross so far, not enough to coming close to breaking even on its incredibly high $99 million costs. In the meantime, two independent movies with unreleased budgets, Spotlight (estimated $2.5 million) and Brooklyn (estimated $2 million) are still up in the air about success. With their roots, they might easily be successes, but high-end acting talent and six weeks at the theater with no numbers released are adding up to concerning results.

Weekend Box Office (December 11th – December 13th)

  1. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2…$11.3 million
  2. In the Heart of the Sea…$11 million
  3. The Good Dinosaur…$10.5 million
  4. Creed…$10.1 million
  5. Krampus…$8 million
  6. Spectre…$4 million
  7. The Night Before…$3.9 million
  8. The Peanuts Movie…$2.7 million
  9. Spotlight…$2.5 million
  10. Brooklyn…$2 million
Seth Paul

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."