In the year of high performing religious films “Exodus: Gods and Kings” did not meet expectations. It opened $20 million lower that “Noah.” While not an outright bomb $24 million isn’t a strong opening for a movie with big names and a $140 million budget. Along with “Exodus” the only other new film in the top five was “Top Five,” a film by Chris Rock which opened just below $7 million.
“Mockingjay” fell 40% but has grossed over $270 million domestically and if it stays on this pace will be the biggest film of the year. “Penguins of Madagascar” continued to struggle and dropped 34% down to $7.2 million. It will most likely not break $100 million.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross | % Change | Total Gross | Week # | ||||||
| 1 | N | Exodus: Gods and Kings | $24,115,934 | – | $24,115,934 | 1 | |||||
| 2 | 1 | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 | $13,200,000 | -40.1% | $277,398,000 | 4 | |||||
| 3 | 2 | Penguins of Madagascar | $7,206,293 | -33.9% | $58,745,002 | 3 | |||||
| 4 | N | Top Five | $6,894,814 | – | $6,894,814 | 1 | |||||
| 5 | 4 | Big Hero 6 | $6,055,901 | -24.7% | $185,235,910 | 6 | |||||
Next weekend sees the release of the final “The Hobbit” film and should bump of the box office gross substantially.
A quick note on budgets and dollar figures:
Films making back their budgets is a good sign, but that is just the money to film. It doesn’t include distribution and marketing. Marketing can cost as much as a film. That big Superbowl spot is spendy. So take that into account when judging a films success. Hitting $100 million isn’t the same as it once was.
All dollar amounts in the top 5 come from estimates based on ticket sales unless noted otherwise. Occasionally this article will be published when actual results come out, which is usually late Monday afternoon. For more about this and other ins and outs of movie tracking click here.