There was enough Hunger Games: Mockingjay part I analysis to justify its own post, so I'm splitting it up again today.
The big new opener of the weekend was Penguins of Madagascar from DreamWorks Animation . Since DreamWorks had a prior animated feature drop two Thanksgivings ago, the comparisons are pretty easy on this one. Rise of the Guardians opened with $23 million over its Friday-Sunday debut while ending the Wed-Sun frame with $32m. Penguins of Madagascar, which by-the-by was a lot cheaper ($132m) than the ambitious fantasy adventure, opened with $25.6m over the Fri-Sun frame and ended its long weekend with $36m. That's on the low side of expectations, and frankly feels a little grimmer than it might be due to what seemed like an easy cash-in spin-off.
It's not a super-duper opening, especially with DreamWorks being watched on all sides as they end their 20th anniversary year in a precarious position. Puss In Boots opened with $34 million in its late October 2011 debut and ended up earning another $33m over the next weekend (a jaw-dropper, but that is a conversation for another day), but the popular penguins seemed like at least as easy a sell as the Antonio Banderas-starring Shrek spin-off (which by the way, was a far better movie than anyone expected). Maybe three Madagascar movies and a television series left the penguins overexposed, which may be a problem considering how many of DreamWork's branded characters are now in television and film franchises concurrently.
Maybe parents just opted for the clearly superior Big Hero 6. But this wasn't the easy win that DreamWorks was arguably hoping for. Nonetheless, this one is going to do well overseas, they didn't set the second act in Shanghai for fun, and it's the kind of 'no harm, no foul' babysitter title that will play well on DVD/VOD for years. I wish it were a better movie and as a fan of the company I wish it were playing a little better, but let's see how it holds up against the onslaught of live-action family titles ( Into the Woods, Annie, Night at the Museum 3, etc.) next month before I cast too much judgment. The trailer for Home looks pretty delightful and I wouldn't be surprised if it clicked in a big way next year.
The other new wide release was Horrible Bosses 2 ( Mark Hughes's very negative review). The New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. ( Time Warner Inc.) sequel has earned $15.6 million over the Fri-Sun frame and $23m over the holiday, which is noticeably less than the $28m that the first film earned over its initial Fri-Sun frame in July of 2011. I thought the number would be a little higher going into the first two days, but them's the breaks for a sequel that no one really asked for that is getting dreadful reviews. The sequel, which brings back pretty much everyone from the first film (Jason Bateman Charlie Day Jason Sudeikis Jennifer Aniston Kevin Spacey, and Jamie Foxx) and brings aboard Christoph Waltz and Chris Pine, cost just $43m to produce (compared to $37m for the original), so even a total well below the original's $209m worldwide cume will be a win for this film. This is a miss, but it won't be a costly one especially with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies preparing to print money next month. The R-rated comedy played 51% male and 59% over-25 years old, for what that's worth. The novelty of Jennifer Aniston going against type as a sexually aggressive would-be rapist (but it's for laughs, folks!) is gone, as Aniston is getting the heat for her dramatic turn in the upcoming Cake.
The Imitation Game was the big limited debut this weekend, as Weinstein Company's Oscar-contender drama about Alan Turing earned $482,071 for four theaters on its opening Friday. That's a monstrous $120,517 per-screen average by tomorrow, the second largest of the year behind The Grand Budapest Hotel. The Benedict Cumberbatch/Keira Knightly drama will expand throughout the month as it makes a play for the year-end awards race. The strong average is news, but it won't matter unless the film breaks out beyond the big cities. I'm not saying it won't, as it's a highly commercial piece of highbrow entertainment, but let's hold off on the fireworks for this one. In expansion news, the other high-toned British biopic, The Theory of Everything, expanded to 802 theaters this weekend. The Eddie Redmayne Felicity Jones drama earned $5.08 million for the Friday-Sunday frame. That gives the Stephen Hawking/Jane Hawking biopic $9.6m total.
In other holdover news, Big Hero 6 earned $18.87 million over its fourth Fri-Sun frame for a robust $167.21m domestic cume ( Wreck it Ralph had $149m by the end of Thanksgiving weekend). It held off Penguins of Madagascar just fine and now will merely have to contend with Walt Disney splitting its ad dollars with Into the Woods. Might I suggest a double-sneak preview for December 13th? Interstellar, which is still IMAX's best friend (it has earned $91m globally in IMAX, already the company's fourth biggest release),earned $15.8m on its fourth weekend, bringing its domestic cume to $147m and it may have crossed $500m worldwide this weekend (Warner is often 'late' in regards to releasing their overseas figures). Dumb and Dumber To earned $8.3m over its third weekend (-41%) and brought its domestic cume to $72.2m, or about double its $36m debut weekend.
Posted by Unknown on Sunday, November 30, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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