Overall business was off 17% from last Thanksgiving, which featured the one-two punch of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($110 million 5-day) and Frozen ($94 million 5-day).
As expected, it was Katniss who kept the top spot for the second week in a row as The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I held fairly well over Thanksgiving weekend. The third installment of Suzanne Collins' trilogy was off 53% over the three-day period to $57 million ($82.7 million 5-day). That drop was identical to that of Catching Fire from last year and shows that word-of-mouth must be positive. Competition is fairly small in the weeks ahead (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and Exodus: Gods and Kings are more aimed for males), so look for this to continue having small drops (though the post-Thanksgiving weekend is always a bad one for all movies). In 10 days, the movie has earned $225.7 million and will have to hold up much stronger than previous movies in the coming weeks if it wants a chance to beat Guardians of the Galaxy for #1 this year domestically. Mockingjay will also top next weekend.
Meanwhile, DreamWorks Animation suffered another unfortunate misfire as Penguins of Madagascar couldn't really improve on Rise of the Guardians from two Thanksgivings ago. The Madagascar spin-off opened to $25.4 million over the 3-day weekend ($35.4 million 5-day), for a per-venue average of a moderate $6,748. In comparison, Rise of the Guardians had a $23.8 million 3-day and $32.5 million five-day pick-up. Considering Penguins had nearly 10 years of franchise familiarity, its extremely disappointing this could only improve marginally from that movie. DreamWorks Animation, I guess, can't do Thanksgiving like Disney can. Penguins had one of the lowest debuts yet for DreamWorks, and speaks to perhaps too many movies from them per year (2015 onward, we will have 3 movies from them). What can finally get them out of a slump? Penguins did get decent reviews (69% on Rotten Tomatoes), and a "A-" CinemaScore, which should allow it to hold well through Christmas (as long as the one-three punch of Annie, The Hobbit and Night at the Museum 3 doesn't allow it to lose a lot of screens), as Christmas break usually benefits a lot of kids' movies. Overseas is also promising early on ($100 million worldwide so far with many more to open), so this should still end up in the black.Despite some added competition, Big Hero 6 had a terrific hold in its fourth weekend, sliding back just one spot to third and was off a light 7% over the three-day to $18.8 million ($26 million 5-day). Disney Animation's latest hit is at a strong $167.2 million in 24 days and will likely continue to play until right before Christmas. Overseas is just getting started.
Boasting an even better performance over Thanksgiving was Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, which actually inched up 3% over the 3-day period to $15.7 million ($22 million 5-day). Proving to have solid word-of-mouth, the space epic has earned a solid $147 million in 24 days and will likely continue to hold on strong in the coming weeks due to no competition for older audiences. $200 million is definitely not out of reach.
Opening to disappointing numbers in fifth place (fourth place for the five-day) was comedy sequel Horrible Bosses 2. Despite boasting starpower such as Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Chris Pine and Christoph Waltz, the sequel only mustered $15.5 million over the three-day ($22.7 million over the 5-day), for a per-venue average of a mild $4,580. That was less than expected (analysts were saying a $35 million 5-day start). One has to wonder, with little competition, why did this not do well? It was well-marketed and the first movie did good at the box office. Perhaps the R-rated comedy doesn't quite fit into Thanksgiving. Plus reviews were terrible. A "B+" CinemaScore may help word-of-mouth.
Rival comedy Dumb and Dumber To continued its descent, off a Top 10-worst 41% over the 3-day to $8.4 million over the three-day ($11.7 million 5-day), for an OK $72.2 million in 17 days, or just over double its opening weekend. Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels' grossfest is proving to be extremely frontloaded and will probably finish around $85 million. Still good, but not fantastic.
Expanding to over 800 locations, possible awards contender The Theory of Everything exploded over Thanksgiving weekend, earning a very solid $5 million over the three-day ($6.4 million 5-day). The Stephen Hawking biopic averaged a solid $6,248 per-theater and has earned $9.5 million since its limited debut 24 days ago. Look for this to continue to expand.
In its ninth weekend, Gone Girl continued to play well, off just 13% on the 3-day to $2.5 million ($3.2 million 4-day), for a blockbuster $160.7 million in 63 days. David Fincher's possible awards contender should continue dropping off slowly and could even stick around in the list with Golden Globe nominations around the corner.
Sure-to-be awards contender Birdman stayed in the ninth spot, and inched up 1% over Thanksgiving weekend to $1.9 million ($2.4 million 5-day). Since its limited debut 49 days ago, the Michael Keaton flick has earned a mild $17.2 million, and may add more if it expands more. St. Vincent rounded out the Top 10 in its eighth weekend, off 24% to $1.7 million ($2.3 million 5-day), for a solid, if unspectacular $39.3 million pick-up in 56 days.
Next weekend, the post-Thanksgiving doldrums hit with horror flick The Pyramid not expected to make much noise. Will it be a blue day for everyone?
