Weekend Box Office Report: November 21-23 2014

By Kip Mooney • On • In News News 0

 

BOX OFFICE REPORT 

November 21-23, 2014(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 51. THG: Mockingjay - Part I (56.2 million)2. Big Hero 6 ($50.0 million)3. Interstellar ($6.1 million)4. Dumb and Dumber To ($6.0 million)5. Gone Girl ($5.7 million)

Even the biggest appetites can be sated. Audiences just aren't as hungry for more Hunger Games as we all thought. Though Mockingjay, Part 1 delivered the biggest opening of 2014, with an estimated $123 million, that's still well below its predecessors. There might be a bit of franchise fatigue already. Not just for The Hunger Games series, but big franchises in general. Also, as we've seen all year long, even though movies continue to make outrageous sums of money, the overall desire to see a movie on the big screen, especially on its opening weekend, appears to be diminishing. I would be shocked if any other movies top Mockingjay's debut.

There's still no reason for Lionsgate to be too disappointed. After all, it's already made more than Interstellar, and will have topped Big Hero 6 before the week is out. Those two films are still holding on strong, but neither is likely to cross $200 million. Interest is just down across the board.

Dumb and Dumber To fell a stupidly high 61 percent, dropping all the way to fourth place. It will drop even more next week when Horrible Bosses 2 gives audiences seeking a gross-out comedy another (and possibly better) option. And then you've still got Gone Girl, which has remained in the Top 5 for eight crazy weeks. The last movie to manage that feat was Frozen.  

Outside the top 5: - This Weekend's Indie Champ: Foxcatcher, the true-crime drama starring Steve Carell and Channing Tatum, remained on top, taking in $19,750 on each of its 24 screens.

- Kirk Cameron couldn't save Christmas or Saving Christmas. The preachy dramedy has made less than $2 million in its first 10 days.

- Beyond the Lights, the well-received music business drama, hasn't made a killing at the box office. But unlike a lot of the competition, it's actually turned a profit after only 10 days.

Next week: It's murderous employees versus trouble-making birds for the No. 2 spot. Horrible Bosses was a sizable comedy hit in 2011, taking in $117 million. The sequel should open around $25 million, which will put at No. 3. Penguins of Madagascar, based on the DreamWorks' Madagascar franchise is going to eat up all the family dollars, and should open around $45 million. Both of those will be below Mockingjay, Part 1's second weekend.

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

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