BOX OFFICE REPORT
December 4- 6, 2015(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)
TOP 51. Mockingjay: Part II ($18.6 million)2. Krumpus ($16.0 million)3. Creed ($15.5 million)4. The Good Dinosaur ($15.5 million)5. Specture ($5.4 million)
With little in the way of competition, Mockingjay "“ Part 2 continued its reign. It fell sharply yet again, but an estimated $18.6 million was still enough to keep it in first place. With its bummer debut and rapid decline, it's looking like the finale to the big franchise won't find its way to even $300 million. Still, it's already solidified its spot as the sixth-biggest movie of the year (which will last until The Force Awakens comes and knocks everything down a peg).
Krampus was the only major wide release this weekend. But unlike other movies that open the first weekend of December, it did even better than expected. Its $16 million gross is already more than its budget, and it couldn't have happened to a better director (Michael Dougherty, whose Trick "˜r Treat was unceremoniously dumped straight to video back in 2009).
Creed rode its wave of praise from critics and audiences to hang on to No. 3, edging out The Good Dinosaur, which fell a very hard 60 percent. Barring some sort of magnificent turnaround, it will end up as Pixar's lowest-grossing movie ever. Spectre has held on to become the second-biggest Bond movie ever, but it will top out making only two-thirds what Skyfall did. That's only a disappointment if you compare it to its record-breaking predecessor.
Outside the top 5: - This Weekend's Indie Champ: Carol, the critically acclaimed lesbian drama starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, remained on only four screens for its third weekend. It still averaged $36,810, more than any other release.
- Spike Lee's controversial (though a Spike Lee movie without controversy is like a J.J. Abrams movie without lens flare) Chi-raq rolled out onto just over 300 screens, but only managed a $1.2 million debut. Still, that's much better than his last two movies (his Do the Right Thing quasi-sequel Red Hook Summer and his ill-advised remake of Oldboy). More folks are likely to check it out when it hits Amazon Prime later this month.
- Youth, a dramedy starring Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel as two friends enjoying a weekend retreat and Justin Kerzel's bloody take on Macbeth both enjoyed strong limited debuts. But both fell short of the Chinese romance Fall in Love Like a Star.
Next week: The only major release is Ron Howard's In the Heart of the Sea (aka Moby Dick starring Thor). While I dig most of Ron Howard's work "“ his movies aren't always great, but are never lazy "“ I can't see how audiences are going to connect with this movie. We need more movies about ships that aren't Pirates of the Caribbean (2003's Master and Commander should have been the start of a franchise, not the one and only film about Russell Crowe's captain). Still, I think this is going to be an expensive flop, only making $12 million next week. I would love to be wrong.
