With no major wide releases this weekend, it was pretty much open season for "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1" to take the top spot again for the third straight weekend. And it did. But overall, it was the second worst weekend of the 2014 box office (only September 5-7 was worse), so it’s something a hollow victory for Katniss and her pals.
Nevertheless, the hit YA franchise entry pocketed another $21 million and change, bringing the domestic haul up to $257 million. It’s certainly underperforming stateside—by its third weekend domestically, ‘Catching Fire‘ had already earned $335 million. So thank goodness for international audiences, which have pushed the film over the $300 million mark abroad, and over $500 million in total. There’s still a great distance to cover in order to reach the $860 million total of ‘Catching Fire,’ and with the domestic take now looking to wind up around $320 million, it will be up to the international haul to pick up the slack. And there is major competition coming with "The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies" waiting to raid the box office next weekend.
As you probably guessed, Fox dumped the not-screened-for-press, horror movie afterthought "The Pyramid" in just under 600 theaters, and they’re likely glad it earned the paltry $1.3 million that it did.
So, with the major studios staying quiet this weekend, the real story is what’s going in limited release. The Weinstein Company are seeing very good things from "The Imitation Game," which earned the highest per-screen average with $50,000/theater on its way to a $1 million total. "Wild," starring Reese Witherspoon, nabbed $30,000/screen on its way to $630,000.
Open Road put the Indie Spirit-nominated "Nightcrawler" back into wide release this weekend in over 800 theaters, and put another $1 million in the bank for the efforts. It’s not fantastic, but it keeps the movie in the game and in the conversation for awards, which is the point, and it pushes the gritty drama/black comedy over $30 million, which everyone involved is surely happy with. "Foxcatcher" expanded into 75 theaters, pocketing a half-million or so for their efforts.
Check out the full top ten below.
1. “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1” – $21.6 million ($257 mil.)
2. “Penguins of Madagascar” – $11.1 million ($49.5 mil.)
3. “Horrible Bosses 2” – $8.6 million ($36 mil.)
4. “Big Hero 6” – $8.1 million ($177 mil.)
5. “Interstellar” – $8 million ($158 mil.)
6. “Dumb And Dumber To” – $4.2 million ($78.1 mil.)
7. “The Theory Of Everything” – $2.6 million ($13.6 mil.)
8. “Gone Girl” – $1.5 million ($162.8 mil.)
9. “The Pyramid” – $1.3 million
10. “Birdman” – $1.1 million ($18.9 mil.)
