The Hunger Games film franchise spread out three books into four movies and while that was financially a smart play by the studio, it meant Mockingjay – Part 1 and Part 2 both felt a bit diluted.
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Mockingjay, Part 2 is a continuation of Mockingjay, its predecessor, which grossed $121.9 million during its first week, 17% more than Part 2, upon its debut in 2014.
The series made up ground overseas, picking up $147 million after debuting in almost everysignificant foreign territory, including China. While the Bond film “Spectre” finished in second place and added $14.6 million, and “The Peanuts Movie” finished third and pulled in $12.8 million, the R-rated “The Night Before” opened with $10.1 million in ticket sales, good for fourth.
STX, which bought domestic rights with Route One for $6.5 million, expressed confidence that the film would find its audience over the Thanksgiving period. Also starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Nicole Kidman, director Billy Ray’s movie centres on a team of FBI investigators whose lives are thrown into torment when one of their number (Roberts) discovers that her daughter has been murdered.
Cast members Donald Sutherland, Liam Hemsworth, Jennifer Lawrence, Sam Claflin, Josh Hutcherson and Julianne Moore.
Mockingjay 2 was the last movie in the Hunger Games franchise and while many people including the Lionsgate’s management, thought that the franchise’s last part would go out with a bang, it did not. The Night Before seems to have generally positive reviews and word of mouth, plus it’s the holidays and this time of the year movies tend to hold much better. Splitting things in two is all the rage in Hollywood these days, so we at the Emerald chose to give two of our writers the chance to air their thoughts on the end of the Hunger Games. A $101 million opening is, of course, not bad by any measurement. Or was it just that Katniss was no long catnip for young fans as they grew up and moved onto other young adult movies?
Vanity Fair’s John Lopez theorizes that the box office failure is a result of Blockbuster fatigue – moviegoers are exhausted of the multitude of “must-see” movies.
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” is now showing in theaters.
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Since Part 1 came out last November, we’ve seen Avengers re-assemble, dinosaurs terrorize yet another theme park, found out emotions can be adorable and built eager anticipation for a return to a galaxy far, far away.
