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Box Office Report: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 Flies Above Penguins Over Turkey Weekend

Katniss Everdeen continued to show her box office might as The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 flew to the third best five-day Thanksgiving frame ever, besting a sequel and a spin-off that did not garner much audience attention. The third instalment of the Hunger Games franchise grossed $56.9 million in its sophomore weekend, a 53% drop from its year-best opening. Although the film has easily gotten the best 10-day start of any title this year, with $225.7 million already banked, it is still a good $70 million behind the pace of its predecessor, Catching Fire.

Horrible Bosses 2

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Meanwhile, debuting far down in fifth place was Horrible Bosses 2, which could not overcome tepid reviews and unfunny ads to make much of a dent over the holiday weekend. Pitch black humor did not have much of a place over Black Friday, as the R-rated sequel took in just $15.7 million over the frame. It has earned $23 million since Wednesday, which is less than the original film’s three-day debut in July 2011 ($28.3 million).

Although the first film was liked by many, the marketing did not show a lot of memorable gags or a unique plot this time around. Terrible reviews and a competitive marketplace did not help, but a debut under $30 million seemed highly unlikely given the original’s popularity. It seemed that people looking for silly comedy had already gotten their fix with Dumb and Dumber To‘s success earlier this month.

The Theory of Everything expanded to wide release this weekend and had a strong debut, earning $5.1 million from just over 800 theaters. With little out for adults and much Oscar buzz due to the performances of Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, the film should continue to bring in a lot over the coming months. It earned $6.4 million over the five-day frame, and is currently outpacing last year’s eventual Best Picture nominees Dallas Buyers Club and Philomena (the latter opened with $3.7 million from a similar auditorium number over the Turkey weekend in 2013).

As for other Oscar hopefuls, The Imitation Game had a spectacular opening, earning $482,000 from just four theaters. That is a better per-theater average than Birdman last month, which also debuted in four cinemas. The biopic, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto film festival in September. If audiences continue to spread good word-of-mouth, expect big grosses headed its way.

Here are the numbers for the Top 10 films at the North American box office for the weekend of November 28 through 30, 2014:

1. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – $56.9 million ($225.7 million total)
2. The Penguins of Madagascar – $25.8 million ($36 million total)
3. Big Hero 6 – $18.8 million ($167.2 million total)
4. Interstellar – $15.8 million ($147.1 million total)
5. Horrible Bosses 2 – $15.7 million ($23 million total)
6. Dumb and Dumber To – $8.3 million ($72.2 million total)
7. The Theory of Everything – $5.1 million ($9.6 million total)
8. Gone Girl – $2.5 million ($160.8 million total)
9. Birdman – $1.9 million ($17.2 million total)
10. St. Vincent – $1.8 million ($39.3 million total)

NOTE: These numbers are weekend estimates based on Friday and Saturday’s estimated takes. Actual numbers for the three-day weekend are reported on Monday afternoon.

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