True, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 won the box office for the third consecutive weekend, but the real story is Krampus earning second place with a big debut.
Mockingjay 2 added $18.6 million, bringing its domestic total to $227.1 million. It also continued to be the international winner and is now up to $523.9 million worldwide.
Krampus (reviewed here) started its box office run with $637,000 on Thursday night. It continued to do well all weekend, making an estimated $16 million for Universal. The film doesn’t have many big stars, but its success proves that audiences do enjoy holiday-themed horror films. Plus, that PG-13 rating really helped the $15 million movie. Expect it to play well over the next few weeks.
The Thanksgiving movies had a mixed second weekend. MGM/Warner Bros.’ Creed added $15.4 million, bringing its total to $65.1 million.
However, Disney/Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur took a major tumble, earning just $15.5 million. If that estimate turns out to be final, it will be a 60.4 percent tumble, notes Box Office Mojo. That’s the biggest drop for a Pixar movie since 2011’s Cars 2 (which had already made $117.2 million by its second weekend).
Coming in fifth was Spectre, which added $5.4 million. Its domestic haul is up to $184.5 million.
Elsewhere, awards favorites Spotlight and Brooklyn held on well, earning $2.9 million and $2.4 million, respectively. Both films stayed in the Top 10.
Next weekend’s In the Heart of the Sea, earned $17.1 million from foreign territories. The Warner Bros. film is directed by Ron Howard and features Chris Hemsworth.