"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" Sets Nov. Record while Vince Vaughn Flops

[JamesG]

Weekend Report: Catching Fire Burns Bright, Sets November Record
by Ray Subers
November 24, 2013


As expected, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire attracted nearly unprecedented crowds to movie theaters this weekend. The highly-anticipated sequel opened to an estimated $161.1 million, which is the best opening ever in the month of November.


If the estimate holds, it will be the fourth-highest opening weekend on record, and the top debut ever for a 2D-only movie.



Catching Fire's $161.1 million opening is a bit above the original Hunger Games, which surprised many when it opened over $152 million last March. It's also ahead of the three Twilight sequels that opened at the same time in November—all three wound up between $138.1 million and $142.8 million.

Catching Fire's debut ranks behind The Avengers, Iron Man 3 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, all of which had the added benefit of 3D ticket pricing.

The previous record-holder for a 2D-only movie is last Summer's The Dark Knight Rises ($160.9 million). Catching Fire's estimate is less than $250,000 ahead of The Dark Knight Rises, though, and there's a good chance it winds up lower when actuals report on Monday.



Catching Fire's audience was split evenly between those over and under 25 years of age. It was 59 percent female, which is down a bit from the first movie (61 percent). The movie received an "A" CinemaScore, which suggests word-of-mouth will be strong.

Long-term, the movie will absolutely hold better than the Twilight franchise. Still, it's unreasonable to expect it to play as well as its predecessor, and a final tally below $400 million is likely.

While Catching Fire did huge business, the rest of the market was underwhelming. The Top 12 earned an estimated $222 million, which ranks 10th all-time.







In a distant second place, Thor: The Dark World plummeted 61 percent to an estimated $14.1 million.

Through 17 days, it has earned $167.8 million; the movie is still on pace to finish above $200 million, but not by much.







After a strong start last weekend, The Best Man Holiday fell 58 percent to $12.5 million. Considering the movie's "A+" CinemaScore, that's a very steep drop.

The movie has now earned $50.4 million, and remains on pace for at least $75 million total.







Vince Vaughn comedy Delivery Man bombed this weekend with just $8.2 million. Among recent Vaughn movies, that's less than half of The Internship or The Dilemma, and is also noticeably lower than The Watch ($12.8 million).

Marketing tried to portray the movie as a heartwarming family comedy, though that clashed with the movie's raunchy premise (a sperm donor spawns 533 children). As a result, the movie seemed too mature for families, but too cheesy for most adults.

It doesn't help that the movie was also sold on Vaughn, and audiences seem to be tiring of his schtick over the past few years.



Delivery Man is the latest in a string of star-driven movies that have opened below $10 million; others include Runner Runner, Escape Plan and The Counselor.

The movie's audience was evenly split between men and women, and 81 percent was couples. They awarded the movie a "B+" CinemaScore; while that's a fine rating, it doesn't suggest that word-of-mouth is going to save this one.

A final total below $30 million is likely at this point.








Free Birds rounded out the Top Five with $5.3 million.

To date, the animated flick has earned $48.6 million.







Last Vegas added $4.4 million to bring its total to $53.9 million.

It's now only a few days away from passing The Woman in Black ($54.3 million) to become the highest-grossing movie yet for CBS Films.







Dallas Buyers Club expanded to 666 locations and earned a solid $2.77 million.

To date, the acclaimed drama has grossed $6.45 million.







The Christmas Candle, which is the first movie from former Senator Rick Santorum's production company, expanded to 392 theaters and earned $980,000.

That's a fine figure for a movie targeted exclusively at Christian audiences, but also suggests the movie won't earn much more than $5 million or so in theaters.







Disney Animation's Frozen opened exclusively at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood this weekend. The movie earned $238,000, which is the seventh-highest per-theater average ever behind six other Disney animated movies that had similar releases.

On Wednesday, Frozen expands to around 3,600 locations.







At four locations, Philomena earned an estimated $134,000 this weekend.

It expands to around 500 locations on Wednesday.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3756&p=.htm









November 22-24, 2013 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire $161,125,000
2. Thor: The Dark World $14,117,000 / $167,837,000
3. The Best Man Holiday $12,522,000 / $50,391,000
4. Delivery Man $8,215,000
5. Free Birds $5,300,000 / $48,594,000
6. Last Vegas $4,400,000 / $53,926,000
7. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa $3,450,000 / $95,451,000
8. Gravity $3,305,000 / $245,503,000
9. 12 Years a Slave $2,800,000 / $29,393,000
10. Dallas Buyers Club $2,770,000 / $6,450,000

[shotzette]

Originally Posted by JamesG

Weekend Report: Catching Fire Burns Bright, Sets November Record
by Ray Subers
November 24, 2013

November 22-24, 2013 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire $161,125,000
2. Thor: The Dark World $14,117,000 / $167,837,000
3. The Best Man Holiday $12,522,000 / $50,391,000
4. Delivery Man $8,215,000
5. Free Birds $5,300,000 / $48,594,000
6. Last Vegas $4,400,000 / $53,926,000
7. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa $3,450,000 / $95,451,000
8. Gravity $3,305,000 / $245,503,000
9. 12 Years a Slave $2,800,000 / $29,393,000
10. Dallas Buyers Club $2,770,000 / $6,450,000

Just saw "Catching Fire" this afternoon, and it is even better than "Hunger Games". Highly recommended .

[Nighthawk76]

Originally Posted by shotzette

Just saw "Catching Fire" this afternoon, and it is even better than "Hunger Games". Highly recommended .

Me too! And you're right! Jennifer Lawrence was amazing as always and the story cleverly mixed science fiction, action and human drama. I still haven't read the book. When I saw Hunger Games, I had already read the book.

[comedyfreak]

I want to see Delivery Man but, it's only playing at select theatres. The one where I live is not showing it and the nearest town by me is only playing it at 8pm. I wouldn't call it a flop due to the limited amount of places it's being shown.