As expected, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 dominated the box office this black Friday adding an estimated $24,100,000 to its $168,608,000 haul from its first week in theaters. This is after a disappointing opening weekend which was the largest of 2014, but the smallest in the franchise history.
The third installment also took in $11.1 on Turkey Day, however it’s still behind “Catching Fire” and its record setting $110 million meal (haha, get it?) during last year’s five-day weekend.
A spin-off film came in second on Friday. Penguins of Madagascar (a dark horse contender for the Best Animated Feature Oscar) took in $10.5 million, which puts it on track to miss the estimated weekend gross. Some estimates put it as high as grossing $44 million. The series’ first three films have grossed $1.8 billion worldwide in total.
Returning for its 4th weekend in theaters is Big Hero 6, which finished in a respectable third. The film took in $7,742,000 to bring its total gross to $156,181,000. Not only is the film a strong competitor in the box office, it may also grab an Oscar along the way.
Interstellar grossed an additional $6.6 million, mostly thanks (heh) to its IMAX showings. This brought its domestic total to $137,890,000.
Rounding off the top 5 is R-rated comedy Horrible Bosses 2, which stars Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Charlie Day, Jason Bateman, Chris Pine, and Christoph Waltz, also had a disappointing opening with a gross of $6.2 million on Friday. The film is now expected to gross around $23 million by close of business on Sunday, which puts it far below its expected $35 million haul.
Check out the full top 10 from Black Friday:
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1: $24,100,000 (4,151 theaters)
- Penguins of Madagascar: $10,500,00 (3,764 theaters)
- Big Hero 6: $7,742,000 (3,365 theaters)
- Interstellar: $6,600,000 (3,066 theaters)
- Horrible Bosses: $6,200,000 (3,375 theaters)
- Dumb and Dumber To: $3,400,000 (3,130 theaters)
- The Theory of Everything: $1,900,000 (802 theaters)
- Gone Girl: $1,000,000 (1,174 theaters)
- Birdman: $735,000 (710 theaters)
- St. Vincent: $719,000 (1,256 theaters)
Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.