{"id":66405,"date":"2015-12-06T21:19:49","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T02:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=66405"},"modified":"2015-12-06T21:19:49","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T02:19:49","slug":"hunger-games-finale-stays-on-top-for-third-week-beats-out-horror-comedy-krampus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/12\/06\/hunger-games-finale-stays-on-top-for-third-week-beats-out-horror-comedy-krampus\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Hunger Games’ finale stays on top for third week, beats out horror comedy ‘Krampus’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Photo<\/a>
(Photo from Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES\u2014The \u201cHunger Games\u201d finale spoiled an early Christmas for the holiday horror comedy \u201cKrampus\u201d to maintain its top spot at the North American box office for the third week running.<\/p>\n

The Jennifer Lawrence-led film took in an estimated $18.6 million in the U.S. and Canada, bringing its domestic total to $227 million, according to Rentrak estimates Sunday.<\/p>\n

The anti-Santa Claus thriller from Universal, the only film to debut in the top 10 this week, brought in $16 million.<\/p>\n

The normally slow weekend following Thanksgiving was up 26 per cent from a year ago thanks to the fresh fodder from Universal, which slipped in between the release of two huge franchise movies\u2014\u201cThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2,\u201d and \u201cStar Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens,\u201d which is due out Dec. 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though it’s horror at its base, you needed to have enough time for the film to open and lead up to Christmas,\u201d said Nicholas Carpou, Universal Pictures’ president of domestic distribution. \u201cBeing the only wide commercial release on this date really did wonders for this film.\u201d<\/p>\n

Modestly budgeted for under $15 million, \u201cKrampus\u201d is likely to add to the profits of what has been a record year for Universal following the release of movies like \u201cJurassic World,” \u201cFurious 7,\u201d and \u201cMinions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the final movie installment for bow-wielding Katniss pushed past $500 million worldwide, another hit for Lionsgate, which has staked its claim on the young adult market. It hopes to keep rolling with its franchise film strategy with \u201cAllegiant,\u201d the third film in the \u201cDivergent\u201d series due out in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cCreed,\u201d the boxing film where Sylvester Stallone reprises his role as Rocky Balboa, came third, and the Disney\/Pixar animated tale \u201cThe Good Dinosaur\u201d came fourth. Each had around $15.5 million in ticket sales.<\/p>\n

Overall ticket sales are running 4 per cent ahead of last year and are on track to top $11 billion in the U.S. and Canada for the first time, said Rentrak’s senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.<\/p>\n

Dergarabedian says it remains to be seen whether the global excitement around J.J. Abrams’ \u201cStar Wars\u201d will drown out a bevy of other options coming out later this year. That ranges from director Alejandro Inarritu’s \u201cThe Revenant\u201d to the Amy Poehler and Tina Fey-led comedy, \u201cSisters,\u201d which has knowingly marketed its film with a \u201cStar Wars\u201d parody trailer and the hashtag #youcanseethemboth.<\/p>\n

Among other films competing for attention in the coming weeks are: \u201cAlvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip,\u201d the Will Smith-led football movie \u201cConcussion,\u201d and \u201cJoy,\u201d an underdog tale that reunites stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper with \u201cAmerican Hustle\u201d director David O. Russell.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully the rising tide of ‘Star Wars’ will raise all movies,\u201d Dergarabedian said.<\/p>\n

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Rentrak. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2,\u201d $18.6 million ($32.4 million international).<\/li>\n
  2. \u201cKrampus,\u201d $16.0 million ($3.3 million international).<\/li>\n
  3. \u201cCreed,\u201d $15.5 million ($1.4 million international).<\/li>\n
  4. \u201cThe Good Dinosaur,\u201d $15.5 million ($19.4 million international).<\/li>\n
  5. \u201cSpectre,\u201d $5.4 million ($23 million international).<\/li>\n
  6. \u201cThe Night Before,\u201d $4.9 million.<\/li>\n
  7. \u201cThe Peanuts Movie,\u201d $3.5 million ($2.2 million international).<\/li>\n
  8. \u201cSpotlight,\u201d $2.9 million.<\/li>\n
  9. \u201cBrooklyn,\u201d $2.4 million.<\/li>\n
  10. \u201cSecret In Their Eyes,\u201d $2.0 million.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theatres (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to Rentrak:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \u201cThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2,\u201d $32.4 million.<\/li>\n
    2. \u201cSpectre,\u201d $23 million.<\/li>\n
    3. \u201cThe Good Dinosaur,\u201d $19.4 million.<\/li>\n
    4. \u201cIn The Heart Of The Sea,\u201d $17.1 million.<\/li>\n
    5. \u201cThe Martian,\u201d $13.5 million.<\/li>\n
    6. \u201cPoint Break,\u201d $12 million.<\/li>\n
    7. \u201cFall In Love Like A Star,\u201d $11 million.<\/li>\n
    8. \u201cBridge of Spies,\u201d $10 million.<\/li>\n
    9. \u201cInside Men,\u201d $6.6 million.<\/li>\n
    10. \u201cVictor Frankenstein,\u201d $5 million.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      LOS ANGELES\u2014The \u201cHunger Games\u201d finale spoiled an early Christmas for the holiday horror comedy \u201cKrampus\u201d to maintain its top spot …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":64107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-66405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-original","mauthors-ryan-nakashima","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}