Katniss kept a tight hold on the top spot as like Part I, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part II held the top spot for a third-straight weekend. The final installment of the YA franchise, as expected, plunged, down 64% to $18.9 million, for a still very-solid $227.4 million pick-up in 17 days. In comparison, Part I was down 61% and Catching Fire was down 65% over the post-Thanksgiving frame. Part II trails its predecessor by $30 million through the same point, and the gap will continue to get slightly bigger, regardless of whether or not Part II holds well in the face of In the Heart of the Sea next week. Overseas, Katniss and co. passed $500 million worldwide and are at $525 million so far. At its current rate (with Star Wars just two weeks away), Part II may or may not reach $300 million stateside. Regardless of where it ends up, it will be the lowest-grossing installment of the trilogy stateside.
Meanwhile, opening at #2 with better-than-expected numbers was horror holiday comedy Krampus. The weird title opened to $16.3 million, which is a surprisingly strong gross for a weekend that usually doesn't bring audiences out ($5,615 per-venue average). Chalk it up to the unique concept (a holiday-themed horror certainly seems original) and solid buzz heading into release that helped this break out. Krampus also had solid reviews (65% on Rotten Tomatoes) and a better-than-normal (for the genre) "B-" CinemaScore. With the holiday theme, do not be surprised if this holds better than normal for a horror flick. Overall, distributor Universal should be pleased. For horror this year (this is a PG-13 title), Krampus couldn't quite pull in a similar audience to The Visit and Insidious - Chapter 3, but it did open on par with earlier this year's (fellow Universal title) Unfriended. The budget was only $15 million.Family movies had the rougher declines of this list as Thanksgiving passed. The Good Dinosaur plunged 61% to $15.3 million, for a mild $75.8 million 12-day pick-up. That's really soft for a Pixar movie. In comparison, Tangled was off 56%, Frozen 53%, Penguins of Madagascar 57%, and Enchanted 52%. Enchanted might be the closest comparison at this point, which earned $16.5 million in its second weekend and had $70 million through its 12th day. If Dinosaur wants to not end up being Pixar's lowest-grossing effort yet (that title currently goes to A Bug's Life with $165 million), its going to need to have strong holding power through the remainder of the holiday season.
Creed had one of the stronger holds, off 49% to $15 million, for a very solid $64.6 million pick-up in 10 days. With possible Golden Globes attention (and early buzz for an Oscar nomination for Sylvester Stallone), this is set to play for the remainder of the holiday season. A finish above $100 million is very likely. Spectre is getting ready to hit the home stretch for its run, off 57% to $5.5 million. James Bond's latest has earned a decent $184.6 million in one month of release, and is still on its way to over $200 million stateside. It also has earned almost $800 million worldwide.
Thanks to its holiday theme, The Night Before had a great hold, off just 40% to $5 million, for a decent $32.1 million in 17 days. With two more weeks before Christmas, this should easily pass $50 million. The Peanuts Movie, on the other hand, dropped 63% post-Thanksgiving to $3.6 million. Blue Sky Studios' latest is at $121.5 million in one month of release, and will have next weekend before fellow Fox movie Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip releases.
Possible Oscar fare held the best. Spotlight was off 37% to $2.8 million, for a solid $16.5 million gross in one month of release (it has expanded to nearly 1,000 locations so far). Brooklyn was off 38% to $2.4 million, for a decent $11.2 million since its limited start one month ago. Both movies look to continue playing into December, and may expand further.
Rounding out the Top 10 was The Secret in Their Eyes, which fell 56% to $1.9 million. The Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman disappointment has only picked up $17.2 million in 17 days.
Next weekend, it will be the calm before the Star Wars tornado as In the Heart of the Sea hopes to avoid the same terrible fate Exodus: Gods and Kings had last year (despite being delayed 9 months).
We will see how things end up.
