It’s kind of a weird phenomenon when a movie making over $100 million on opening weekend isn’t considered a success. Somehow it is actually a disappointment. There is all kinds of speculation about why it didn’t do better and I’m not going to get into because that is all it is, speculation. The films are still a very successful franchise and while the opening wasn’t the $120+ they were looking for it isn’t a flop.
| Rank | Title | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Total Gross | Week # | |||||
| 1 | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 | LGF | $102,665,981 | – | $102,665,981 | 1 | |||||
| 2 | Spectre | Sony | $15,043,729 | -55.3% | $154,146,608 | 3 | |||||
| 3 | The Peanuts Movie | Fox | $13,203,590 | -45.0% | $99,346,727 | 3 | |||||
| 4 | The Night Before | Sony | $9,880,536 | – | $9,880,536 | 1 | |||||
| 5 | The Secret in their Eyes | STX | $6,652,996 | – | $6,652,996 | 1 | |||||
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 film’s 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.