Box Office

Games hits third bull's-eye

HB2-04708

Film Name: HORRIBLE BOSSES 2

Copyright: © 2014 WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.

Photo Credit: John P. Johnson

Caption: (L-r) JASON SUDEIKIS as Kurt Buckman, CHARLIE DAY as Dale Arbus and JASON BATEMAN as Nick Hendricks in New Line Cinema's comedy "HORRIBLE BOSSES 2," a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
HB2-04708 Film Name: HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 Copyright: © 2014 WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC. Photo Credit: John P. Johnson Caption: (L-r) JASON SUDEIKIS as Kurt Buckman, CHARLIE DAY as Dale Arbus and JASON BATEMAN as Nick Hendricks in New Line Cinema's comedy "HORRIBLE BOSSES 2," a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

LOS ANGELES -- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 1 stayed at No. 1 for the third weekend in a row in a traditionally slow weekend at the box office.

Audiences tend to shy away from theaters the weekend after Thanksgiving to instead partake in holiday shopping and party-going. All of the films in the top 10 -- with the exception of new release The Pyramid -- fell at least 39 percent from the previous weekend. Weekend grosses were down about 19 percent from the same time last year.

The overall box office is down about 4.6 percent year to date, but Exodus: Gods and Kings, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and other forthcoming releases are expected to get moviegoers into theaters during the Christmas season.

As the end of the year approaches, studios and movie chains are hoping ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters will catch up to last year's record of $10.9 billion.

Going into the weekend, the third Hunger Games installment was poised to do well. It ended up adding about $22 million to its domestic gross, bringing its total to about $258 million. Overseas, the film crossed the $300 million mark, raising the film's worldwide haul to $560.5 million.

20th Century Fox's animated Penguins of Madagascar came in second, adding about $11 million. The spinoff of DreamWorks Animation's Madagascar franchise has pulled in almost $50 million since opening two weeks ago.

The PG-rated film follows the penguins Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private as they work with undercover organization the North Wind to stop Dr. Octavius Brine from destroying the world. Benedict Cumberbatch and John Malkovich voice some of the characters.

Meanwhile, the Warner Bros.-distributed comedy Horrible Bosses 2 jumped from fifth to third, adding $8.4 million to its domestic gross.

The Sean Anders-directed film, which cost about $43 million to make, brings back comedic trio Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day).

Though the raunchy R-rated comedy didn't premiere as strongly as tracking suggested it would last weekend, the film picked up the pace this week. It has pulled in about $36 million to date.

Disney's Big Hero 6 and Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, both wrapping up their fifth weekend in theaters, remained steady in the top five.

The Pyramid, which debuted in 589 theaters over the weekend, finished in ninth with about $1.4 million.

20th Century Fox's microbudget horror film has not yet been graded by polling firm CinemaScore, but it did receive poor reviews from critics.

In its return to theaters, Nightcrawler finished at No. 11 and added about $1.1 million to its domestic gross. The Open Road film, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, has taken in about $30 million to date.

Though the mainstream box office wasn't quite as strong across the board, many art-house films thrived.

Wild, based on the memoir by Cheryl Strayed, had a strong premiere in 21 theaters in seven markets. Its per-screen average of $28,896 was second only to that of The Imitation Game. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club), the film follows Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) as she hikes more than 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. The Fox Searchlight film has been well-received by critics and audiences.

"[The debut] tells us we are reaching a broad audience and we can feel comfortable moving with our plans in the coming weeks," said Frank Rodriguez, Fox Searchlight's head of distribution. "We are very encouraged by what we saw."

The studio plans to release the film in 800 theaters by Christmas, Rodriguez added.

"I think we are going to find success in reaching out a little broader," he said. "Wild brings something different. It's a unique film and a story a lot of people can relate to."

Meanwhile, Fox Searchlight's Birdman added $1.2 million and rounded out the top 10 in its eighth weekend at the box office.

Focus Features' The Theory of Everything, which is playing in 826 theaters, held its No. 7 spot. It pulled in about $2.7 million in its fifth weekend, raising its cumulative gross in U.S. and Canadian theaters to about $13.6 million. The well-reviewed film is based on Jane Hawking's memoir, Travelling to Infinity: My Life With Stephen. It stars Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking and Felicity Jones as Jane.

The Imitation Game added about $389,000 over the weekend, with a per-screen average of $48,658. The Weinstein Co. film, which stars Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, has pulled in about $1 million since its release. This weekend it will expand to 30 to 35 theaters in six new markets: San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia and Toronto.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak:

  1. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 1, Lionsgate, $22,026,762, 4,054 locations, $5,433 average, $258,153,593, 3 weeks.

  2. Penguins of Madagascar, 20th Century Fox, $10,907,030, 3,775 locations, $2,889 average, $49,397,566, 2 weeks.

  3. Horrible Bosses 2, Warner Bros., $8,421,307, 3,400 locations, $2,477 average, $35,896,073, 2 weeks.

  4. Big Hero 6, Disney, $8,042,918, 3,168 locations, $2,539 average, $177,461,157, 5 weeks.

  5. Interstellar, Paramount, $7,788,357, 3,028 locations, $2,572 average, $158,445,319, 5 weeks.

  6. Dumb and Dumber To, Universal, $4,278,350, 3,088 locations, $1,385 average, $78,190,085, 4 weeks.

  7. The Theory of Everything, Focus Features, $2,645,428, 826 locations, $3,203 average, $13,590,862, 5 weeks.

  8. Gone Girl, 20th Century Fox, $1,473,516, 1,205 locations, $1,223 average, $162,834,542, 10 weeks.

  9. The Pyramid, 20th Century Fox, $1,369,935, 589 locations, $2,326 average, $1,369,935, 1 week.

  10. Birdman, Fox Searchlight, $1,150,315, 738 locations, $1,559 average, $18,919,810, 8 weeks.

  11. Nightcrawler, Open Road, $1,069,094, 1,269 locations, $842 average, $30,014,481, 6 weeks.

  12. St. Vincent, The Weinstein Co., $1,068,829, 1,432 locations, $746 average, $40,749,905, 9 weeks.

  13. Fury, Columbia, $911,696, 952 locations, $958 average, $83,275,969, 8 weeks.

  14. Beyond the Lights, Relativity Media, $723,845, 827 locations, $875 average, $13,815,382, 4 weeks.

  15. Wild, Fox Searchlight, $606,810, 21 locations, $28,896 average, $654,058, 1 week.

  16. Foxcatcher, Sony Pictures Classics, $516,845, 75 locations, $6,891 average, $2,784,388, 4 weeks.

  17. The Homesman, Roadside Attractions, $481,938, 154 locations, $3,129 average, $1,047,203, 4 weeks.

  18. The Imitation Game, The Weinstein Co., $389,260, 8 locations, $48,658 average, $1,000,459, 2 weeks.

  19. Whiplash, Sony Pictures Classics, $316,990, 173 locations, $1,832 average, $4,380,721, 9 weeks.

  20. John Wick, Lionsgate, $315,128, 407 locations, $774 average, $42,101,651, 7 weeks.

MovieStyle on 12/12/2014

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