Weekend Estimates: Mockingjay Cruises On

December 13, 2015

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 2 will cruise to another victory at the box office this weekend, for the simple reason that In the Heart of the Sea is having a terrible opening. Mockingjay will be down another 40% in its fourth weekend, and will pick up a relatively modest $11.3 million, taking its domestic total to $244.5 million. That confirms it as comfortably the worst-performing film in the franchise, and even a Christmas-season boost at the box office will leave it under $300 million in total. That, however, is unimaginable riches compared to the performance of Heart of the Sea.

The Ron Howard-directed nautical adventure, which stars Chris Hemsworth, would seem to have all the makings of a box office success: and excellent cast and crew, a ripping yarn, and a prime pre-Holiday release date. But two things prevented the film from landing a whale at the box office: mediocre reviews, and The Force Awakens. Star Wars is simply sucking all the oxygen out of the rest of the industry, even a week before it’s released. Next weekend, we could see one film top $200 million at the box office, and none of the others earn as much as $10 million.

Things are looking similarly subdued at the specialty box office this weekend, with one major exception. The Big Short is having one of the best openings in limited release of the year. Paramount is projecting an opening of $720,000 from eight locations, for an average of $90,000.

Two other films will top $10,000 averages, among films reporting so far: Carol is looking good again with an average over $20,000 in 16 theaters, and will top $1 million in total this weekend; The Danish Girl will average a shade over $10,000 from 24 venues for $650,000 to date.

- Weekend estimates
- In the Heart of the Sea comps
- The Big Short comps
- Krampus comps
- Mockingjay Part 2 comps
- The Hunger Games franchise details
- Spectre comps
- James Bond franchise history
- Peanuts comps
- The Martian comps

Bruce Nash,

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Danish Girl, In the Heart of the Sea, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, Star Wars Ep. VII: The Force Awakens, The Big Short, Carol, James Bond, Hunger Games, Chris Hemsworth, Ron Howard