Box office report: Katniss and Krampus win the weekend
The odds were once again in The Hunger Games’ favor, as Mockingjay – Part 2 won the box office for the third weekend in a row.
Mockingjay topped the otherwise quiet post-Thanksgiving box office with an estimated $18.6 million, bringing its domestic total to $227.1 million and its global total to $523.9 million. The fourth installment in the Hunger Games franchise is the first film to pull a threepeat since Straight Outta Compton in August. (The Martian was No. 1 in four out of five weekends after its release in October.)
The weekend after Thanksgiving tends to be one of the slowest of the year, and as a result, Krampus was the only major wide release scheduled. Still, Krampus actually bested expectations to pull in a solid $16 million, and although it was widely expected to open in the low teens, the Christmas-themed horror comedy took second place. Starring Adam Scott and Toni Collette, Krampus opened in 2,902 theaters and earned a B- grade from CinemaScore.
While Krampus was expected to take fourth, it actually managed to best holdovers Creed and The Good Dinosaur. Creed notched a decent second weekend, edging past The Good Dinosaur to take third place. (Although it’s close enough that things could change when final numbers are released on Monday.) After breaking records to become the biggest Rocky debut of all time, Creed pulled in $15.54 million in its second weekend for a domestic total of $65.1 million.
The Good Dinosaur, on the other hand, took a fairly steep tumble in its second weekend, dropping 60 percent to earn $15.51 million. Although Pixar’s latest film was expected to challenge Mockingjay for first place this weekend, it actually ended up in fourth. As a result, it looks like The Good Dinosaur will become the first-ever Pixar film to not hit No. 1. (Earlier this year, Inside Out opened in second place but eventually dethroned Jurassic World.)
James Bond rounded out the top five in his fifth weekend, as Spectre grossed $5.4 million for a domestic total of $184.5 million. Globally, Spectre has raked in more than $792 million.
The Mother Teresa biopic The Letters was this weekend’s other nationwide release, and it debuted to only $802,000 in 886 theaters. The Letters, which stars Juliet Stevenson, was handily beat by Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq, which only opened in 305 locations but still earned $1.3 million.
The Michael Caine-starring Youth also debuted in four theaters, earning $80,000 for a per-theater average of $20,000. Macbeth, starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, also opened to $67,868 in five theaters, for a location average of $13,574.
Here are this weekend’s top five at the box office:
1. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 — $18.6 million
2. Krampus — $16 million
3. Creed — $15.5 million
4. The Good Dinosaur — $15.5 million
5. Spectre — $5.4 million