After scratching out a win at the box office on Friday, it looked like Ron Howard’s sea-going survival drama In The Heart Of The Sea might actually overcome its personal white whale, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2. But Katniss and the rest proved triumphant in the final analysis, inching ahead to earn $11.3 million according to studio estimates.
We are, of course, still in estimated territory, and there’s a chance that Howard’s latest – featuring Chris “Thor” Hemsworth, Tom “Spider-Man” Holland and Benjamin “please don’t remind people I was Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” Walker in a based-on-truth tale of the whaling ship sunk by its own prey that inspired Moby Dick – could be sitting on top when the final figures come in, given its $11 million haul. But regardless, it’s a pretty terrible result for Howard, especially since the second half of the Mockingjay story has been in the charts for four weeks and this was his big new launch at the box office. Given the movie’s hefty budget, it’s already looking severely waterlogged, with a less than impressive $29.5 million global take so far.
The Good Dinosaur and Creed both stayed where they were in the top five, sitting at third and fourth place respectively with $10.4 and $10.1 million. Pixar’s second film of the year is already being marked down as a possible loss for the company, given that it has yet to cross the $100 million domestic mark, and has a relatively low $167.8 million worldwide. It’s not great given the studio’s usual $100 million plus budgets and all the extra work that was poured into this one, but it’s hardly a flop. As for Creed, the $35 million budgeted Rocky spin-off is punching above its weight, heading for $79.3 million in the States and with several international rings (including the UK, next month) still to conquer.
Krampus, meanwhile, slipped from second to fifth place, earning $8 million this weekend for $28.1 million in the US so far. Spectre was down one place to sixth with $4 million, while holiday comedy The Night Before fell to seventh with $3.9 million. The Peanuts Movie was at eighth and $2.6 million.
Nine was journalistic investigation drama Spotlight on $2.5 million, while Saoirse Ronan drama Brooklyn earned $1.9 million in 10th place. Besides Howard’s film, the only other new entry was Adam McKay’s financial comedy drama The Big Short, which began its slow rollout with just eight screens and still managed to earn $72,000. Surely nothing coming into cinemas soon can challenge Mockingjay for dominance... Sorry, Star what?