There was good news and bad news for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 at the box office this weekend. First the good: with $123 million at US cinemas alone (and $275 million worldwide so far), the film has rocketed to the top of the earnings chart for the most successful opening weekend of 2014. And the bad? Despite that success, it’s still lagging behind both the original Hunger Games and Catching Fire in terms of first weekend hauls.
Big Hero 6 continues to hold on well, sticking around in second place for $20 million this weekend, having long since flown past the $100 million mark for $135.7 million in the States. There will be a lot of kids asking for a Baymax robot for Christmas this year. Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar also stayed in place, holding at third with $15.1 million and a $120.6 million total so far.** Dumb And Dumber To** sank quickly from last week’s first-place launch, falling to fourth with $13.8 million, while David Fincher’s **Gone Girl **also remained where it was in fifth, adding $2.8 million for a $156.8 million Stateside running total.
**Beyond The Lights **slipped a couple of places, landing at sixth with $2.6 million, just ahead of Bill Murray’s indie comedy drama St. Vincent, which fell one place to seventh and $2.3 million. Fury retreated one place to eighth for $1.9 million, while Birdman continued to impress despite showing in fewer cinemas than all of its chart-mates. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s dark comedy took in $1.8 million in ninth, swapping places with Nightcrawler, which made $1.2 million at 10th.
To see Katniss Everdeen shoot an arrow into Baymax to watch him deflate while apologising for injuring her weapon in the full chart listings, head to Box Office Mojo.