By Lindsey Bahr, Film Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --After three weeks of box office dominance, "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1" ceded its reign to "Exodus: Gods and Kings." The biblical epic easily ruled the weekend with a $24.5 million debut, according to box office tracker Rentrak's Sunday estimates.
"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1," down 40 percent from last weekend, came in a distant second, earning $13.2 million.
With an expensive $140 million production budget, "Exodus: Gods and Kings" met expectations in its first weekend. But it failed to live up to the precedent set by some recent biblically-themed films, including "Noah" which opened to $43.7 million in March.
"I think Hollywood is learning that putting epic, biblical stories on the big screen comes at a pretty heavy price. It's not easy to do this," Rentrak's senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian said.
Fox's domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson said he is happy about the performance of his studio's film.
"We're feeling great," Aronson said. "We came in right where our expectations were."
According to the studio, opening weekend crowds for the film were divided fairly evenly down gender lines, but they skewed older with 65 percent over the age of 25.
"It's a very diverse audience," said Aronson, noting that 20 percent were African American and 18 percent Hispanic. "It's a movie for everyone."
Also new in theaters, "Top Five," from writer, director and star Chris Rock, opened strongly. The Paramount-distributed comedy took in an estimated $7.2 million from only 979 locations to take the fourth-place spot right behind "Penguins of Madagascar."
"It's exactly what we needed to get this movie up and running," said Megan Colligan, Paramount's president of worldwide distribution. "It gives us the right rhythm to keep building and building. I think it's going to benefit from great word of mouth."
"Top Five" will expand each weekend before hitting 2,000 screens by Jan. 1.
Despite the fact that nearly all expectations were met for this weekend's new openers, it paled in comparison to last year, which saw the opening of the second "Hobbit" film. Also, the overall box office is still down over five percent for the year, and the deficit is only growing.
"We're running out of racetrack," Dergarabedian said. "We're not going to have a record-breaking year."
But there is a silver lining, he said.
"For me, the hot spots are in the indie world," said Dergarabedian, noting the impressive five-screen, $300,000 debut for Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice," and the stunning growth of awards-friendly films like "The Imitation Game," ''Birdman" and "Wild," which expanded to 116 screens and cracked the top 10 with $1.6 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak.
1. "Exodus: Gods and Kings," $24.5 million.
2. "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1," $13.2 million
3. "Penguins of Madagascar," $7.3 million.
4. "Top Five," $7.2 million.
5. "Big Hero 6," $6.1 million.
6. "Interstellar,"$5.5 million.
7. "Horrible Bosses 2," $4.6 million.
8. "Dumb and Dumber To," $2.8 million.
9. "The Theory of Everything," $2.5 million.
10. "Wild," $1.6 million.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More