‘Hunger Games’ gobbles up box office top spot

LOS ANGELES, USA – North American cinema-goers had plenty of appetite for the latest Hunger Games movie, with the sci-fi survival flick debuting in the weekend box office’s top spot, industry estimates showed Sunday, November 23. (READ: What critics are saying about ‘Mockingjay: Part 1’)

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, in which Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, leads a rebellion against a future dystopian society, grossed $123 million over the weekend, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations. (READ:‘Mockingjay: Part 1’ Review: The revolution will be televised)

The performance was strong enough to keep the animated robot caper Big Hero 6 in second place. It pulled in another $20.1 million this weekend, grossing about $136 million.

Christopher Nolan’s space epic Interstellar remained in third, taking in $15 million.

Last week’s top opener, Dumb and Dumber To, a follow-up to 1994’s Dumb and Dumber starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, slid down to fourth with an additional haul of $13.8 million.

The box office’s fifth place went to Gone Girl, David Fincher’s thriller starring Ben Affleck as a husband suspected of murdering his wife. The movie took $2.8 million.

Sixth spot was occupied by Beyond the Lights, a romantic drama starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw as an up-and-coming pop star. It earned $2.6 million.

St Vincent, a comedy starring Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy and Naomi Watts, earned $2.4 million in seventh place.

Brad Pitt’s World War II tank battalion drama Fury dropped one place to eighth with $1.9 million, just ahead of Michael Keaton’s dark comedy “Birdman.”

Rounding out the top 10 was The Theory of Everything starring Eddie Redmayne as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. The film earned $1.5 million. – Rappler.com