The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1, now in its second weekend, had two wide releases to compete against this weekend, Penguins of Madagascar and Horrible Bosses 2. But it wasn’t much of a competition at all: Mockingjay grossed $56.9 million, while Penguins brought in less than half that with $25.8 million and Horrible Bosses 2 with $15.7 million.
Mockingjay’s box office success is expected. The film, the third in the Hunger Games series, is part of a wildly popular franchise that younger and older crowds are both interested in thanks to its dark, gritty world and A-list stars ranging from Jennifer Lawrence to the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. Penguins, on the other hand, is also part of a franchise — but one not quite as beloved, apparently.
Big Hero 6‘s mere existence most likely contributed to Penguins’ numbers — many audiences are more drawn to the Disney film than the Dreamworks-made Penguins. Horrible Bosses 2, though, doesn’t have a similar excuse: Its predecessor, Horrible Bosses, opened with $28 million in July 2011 and the sequel was expected to bring in similar numbers, especially because there aren’t many comedies currently in theaters. While the sequel’s $15.7 million opening isn’t terribly weak, it definitely underperformed compared to the first film — and barely made it into the top five.
Big Hero 6 and Interstellar, both movies surrounded by a lot of hype, continue to bring in solid numbers, while Gone Girl finally found itself outside the top five this weekend (the thriller grossed $2.5 million) for the first time since its Oct. 3 release.
1. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 – $56.9 million
2. Penguins of Madagascar – $25.8 million (5-day total: $36 million)
3. Big Hero 6 – $18.8 million
4. Interstellar – $15.8 million
5. Horrible Bosses 2 – $15.7 million (5-day total: $23 million)
Dumb and Dumber To brought in $8.3 million, down 40 percent from last week’s $13.8 million. The Theory of Everything expanded to 802 theaters this weekend and brought in $5.1 million and Foxcatcher, now in 72 theaters, made $1 million. The Imitation Game opened in just four theaters and made $482,071.
In other box office news, Interstellar continues its successful IMAX run: The Christopher Nolan film has now made $91 million globally from its IMAX screenings — and is now one of the highest grossing IMAX films of all time.
Mockingjay has made $254.4 million internationally, meaning its on track to beat out Catching Fire’s $440 million foreign box office total.
This article originally appeared at EW.com
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