However, the final episode of the Jennifer Lawrence-led dystopian saga was down 17% on Mockingjay – Part 1’s $121.9m opening previous year, and a full 36% on Catching Fire’s $158m bow in 2013. “Being 24 was this whole year of ‘who am I without these movies?’ and ‘who am I without this man?'” The film has opened to rave reviews in the west and the Indian Audiences are really looking forward to its release.
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Ultimately, it was a bit of a unusual weekend at the box office, as all of this weekend’s newcomers came in below expectations.
Expectations run high when films become so popular and successful in such a short a time, said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst for Rentrak, which provided the box office figures.
Opening right before Thanksgiving also presents an interesting dynamic for the film, he said: “It sets you up for a great second weekend because people have a lot more time to go out”. Meanwhile, Oscar contenders Spotlight (weekend gross $3.6 million, total gross $5.8 million) and Brooklyn (weekend gross $1.1 million, total gross $2.1 million) both benefited from an expanded theatre count, seeing their grosses jump 166% and 139% from last weekend, respectively. In the USA the film did well in premium formats, earning an estimated $9.8 million, and Imax, where it picked up $8.5 million. “The Peanuts Movie” finished third, picking up $12.8 million to push its stated total to $98.9 million. “The Night Before”, a bawdy comedy with Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, fared best, earning $10.1 million from 2,960 theaters.
The comedy will likely have about a month of decent showings, since the next adult comedy movie doesn’t come out until December 16 – Sisters, starring Amy Poehler and Tina Fey.
With “Mockingjay – Part 2” sucking most of the air out the multiplexes that left two new releases, Sony’s “The Night Before” and STX/IM Global’s “The Secret In Their Eyes”, struggling to get some recognition. While it’s clear that some scenes are digitally edited to include him, it does add an edge of sadness to the film, being the last movie he ever made before his accidental drug overdose.
“We’re in the home stretch”, Dergarabedian said.
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Todd Haynes’ drama “Carol”, with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara as 1950s lovers, opened in four theaters in NY and Los Angeles and raked in $248,000. Audiences approved more overwhelmingly, giving the film an A-minus grade, according to polling firm CinemaScore. Box office is up 4.2 percent from last year, but 2013 is the year to beat – and this year is tracking less than 1 percent ahead of that. Expect the experiment to spawn more split movies.
