Due to the lack of wide releases this weekend, it’s no surprise that sci-fi sequel The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 would reign at the top spot once more at the domestic box office.
In its third week of release, the Francis Lawrence film took in an additional $21.6 million for a grand total of $257.7 million. The film, which has now made more than $560.5 million globally, is on course to surpass Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the second highest-grossing film of the year.
With the weekend after Thanksgiving tending to be traditionally slow, this weekend was one for the books, with the box office ranking 4.6 percent behind 2013. “This was not the kind of box office weekend you write home about,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. “We really need some help and we need it fast.”
Coming in second place at the box office, with no competition in sight, is DreamWorks’ animated sequel Penguins of Madagascar with $11.1 million in its second week of release for a total of $49.6 million. Comedy sequel Horrible Bosses 2 secured the third spot with $8.6 million for a second-week total of $36.1 million.
Disney’s animated adventure Big Hero 6 lands in fourth place with $8.1 million in its fifth week of release for a total of $177.5 million, while Christopher Nolan’s space drama Interstellar rounds out the top five with $8 million in its fifth week of release for a total of $158.7 million. The film has been doing exceptionally well overseas in comparison to the U.S., earning more than 70 percent of its revenue internationally.
Fox Searchlight’s Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon and based on Cheryl Strayed’s book of the same name, debuted at the specialty box office with $630,000 from 21 theaters, a per-screen average of $30,000. The film follows the story of one woman’s 1,100-mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent catastrophe.
“It connects with a lot of people because Reese Witherspoon is playing a real person on a real journey with real things happening to her that are similar to what people face in real life,” said Frank Rodriguez, Fox Searchlight’s distribution chief.
Fox’s found-footage horror film The Pyramid opted for a limited release, rather than nationwide, and took in $1.4 million in 589 theaters. Directed by Gregory Levasseur, the film stars Ashley Hinshaw, Denis O’Hare, James Buckley and Daniel Amerman as a group of archeologists who discover a vast pyramid buried under the Egyptian desert.
Top 10 Films at Weekend Box Office: December 5-7
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 – $21.6 million
- Penguins of Madagascar – $11.1 million
- Horrible Bosses 2 – $8.6 million
- Big Hero 6 – $8.1 million
- Interstellar – $8 million
- Dumb and Dumber To – $4.2 million
- The Theory of Everything – $2.7 million
- Gone Girl – $1.5 million
- The Pyramid – $1.4 million
- Birdman – $1.2 million
