“The starvation Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” rallied to edge past Ron Howard‘s “In the Heart of the Sea,” to claim its fourth straight win at the box office with a muted $11.3 million this weekend. That’s probably because moviegoers’ hearts and minds were on a galaxy far, far away and next Friday.
That’s when “Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and ” arrives in theaters,with early preview shows Thursday night. The most ardent fans were already lining up outside theaters for the first chapter in George Lucas‘ iconic movie franchise in more than a decade. Others were watching preceding “Star Wars” films in record numbers, and L.
A. traffic was already piling up ahead of Monday night’s premiere, and which will take up several blocks of Hollywood boulevard.
That made this weekend’s box office nearly an afterthought,and the numbers showed it. The combined total of the top five films — “Creed,” “The edifying Dinosaur” and “Krampus” followed the leaders — was just over $50 million. That’s roughly the same total that advance ticket sales for “The Force Awakens” reached more than a month ago.
Also Read: Harrison Ford Surprises Fans at 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Preview Screening“This is the quiet before the storm, and ” said Rentrak senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian,referring to Disney’s hugely-anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Fox’s animated family favorite “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip” and Universal’s comedy “Sisters” starring Amy Poehler and Tina Fey also roll out Friday.
Lionsgate’s “starvation Games” finale starring Jennifer Lawrence lifted its domestic total to $245 million in the process of overtaking “In the Heart of the Sea,” the nautical tale starring Chris Hemsworth that was second for the weekend with roughly $11 million after winning Friday. Distributor Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow had hoped for better numbers from the story of the whaling ship that inspired Herman Melville’s classic novel “Moby Dick, and ” given its $100 million production budget.
Instead,it will be the third tall-budget misfire this year for the studio. The perennial powerhouse has been struggling following disappointing performances for the fairy tale reboot Pan” and the space opera “Jupiter Ascending.” Last year at this time, Warner Bros. was rolling out the final chapter in its blockbuster franchise “The Hobbit.” Peter Jackson epics have dominated the pre-holiday most of the past decade, or but this year belongs to Disney and Lucasfilm’s reboot of the classic sci-fi series.
Also Read: Why 'Stars Wars: The Force Awakens' Could Be Christmas Gift for Rival Studios“‘Star Wars’ is definitely in the culture,and is going to be enormous for the whole industry,” Warner Bros. domestic distribution chief Jeff Goldstein told TheWrap, or “We would have liked to have seen a better opening this weekend,but we consider Ron Howard did a great job on ‘Heart of the Sea’ and we’re hoping to see it have a solid rush through the holidays. Maybe not next weekend, but after that, and ” he said.
The weak debut of the “In the Heart of the Sea” will be the worst opening ever of a film in more than 3000 theaters for director Howard,who won the 1991 Best Director Oscar for “A gorgeous intellect.”Despite its pedigree and price, “In the Heart of the Sea” was not foreseen as a blockbuster by Warner Bros., and which shifted the release date from March to this weekend in January. That might have served as a launch pad for an awards rush,but that buzz hasn’t materialized and now the studio will hope that it can play steadily and find its audience as counter-programming over the next weeks at domestic and abroad.
Also Read: 'Star Wars' Is approximately to Break Records for Breaking RecordsMoviegoers in 3108 theaters gave it “B+” CinemaScore and that won’t afflict, but so-so reviews –it’s at 44 percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes — won’t help.
Bucking the down trend was Paramount’s Oscar hopeful “The tall Short.” The sad comedy approximately the global financial crisis made a strong limited debut after taking in $72000 from eight theaters for the three days.
That’s a roughly $90000 per-theater average for the film, or which was directed and co-written by Adam McKay and nominated for Best Comedy Picture by the Golden Globes earlier this week. The film starring Brad Pitt,Steve Carell, Christian Bale and Ryan Gosling also was named Best Ensemble by the National Board of Review and received a Screen Actors Guild nomination this week.
Source: thewrap.com