Exodus slays Hunger Games at weekend box office

Exodus slays Hunger Games at weekend box office

The only film that made more in 2015 is the comic book adaptation, 'Guardians of the Galaxy', which has brought in $771 million at this point.

On a relatively slow box office weekend, Exodus: Gods and Kings, starring Christian Bale, became the box office champ, beating out the Hunger Games as well as the new Chris Rock comedy, Top Five, and a group of rambunctious penguins in Penguins of Madagascar.

Exodus, the biblical tale of Moses and his struggles against the Egyptians, dominated the box office this weekend with a total three-day gross of $24.5 million, domestically. This gross was in line with industry expectations but since the film carries a budget of over $140 million, the film will need to continue to bring in strong returns if it hopes to recoup its budget. The film will probably do well as it continues to be introduced in international markets over then next few weeks.

In second, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, certainly did not disappoint, taking in $13.2 million in its third weekend in release. At this point, Mockingjay has brought in over $277 million worldwide which officially makes it the second highest grossing film of this year. The only film that made more in 2015 is the comic book adaptation, Guardians of the Galaxy, which has brought in $771 million at this point. This is an earnings line that Mockingjay has no choice of beating.

In third, the animated comedy, Penguins of Madagascar was able to barely edge out comedy, Top Five, bringing in $7.3 million over the weekend. The comedy, which features the voice talents of A-list actors, John Malkovich, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ken Jeong has delivered somewhat disappointing returns, grossing just $170 million from a $132 million budget.

In fourth, the new comedy, Top Five took in $7.2 million. The film, which was produced, written and directed by Saturday Night Live alumni, Chris Rock, was the only other new wide release this weekend. The movie has been widely praised by critics, which have christened the film with an 89 percent fresh rating. The film could have made more but considering the limited amount of theaters it was released in, the film did pretty well. Great cameos also helped the movie with appearances from comedians, Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld and Tracy Morgan.

Finally, in fifth, the animated superhero film, Big Hero 6, managed to hold on to the top five with a weekend gross of $6.1 million. The film, which stars the team of heroes voiced by Ryan Potter, T.J. Miller and Damon Wayans, Jr, had a slim twenty-three percent drop from last weekend and has a total gross of over $253 million.

The rest of the box office consisted of holdovers and smaller, independent films, which showed with varying results. The Paul Thomas Anderson film, Inherent Vice, opened this weekend in only five locations, grossing $330,000, while the Stephen Hawking biopic, The Theory of Everything, dropped only five percent, grossing $17.1 million to date.

Even though this weekend’s box office certainly didn’t shatter any records, next weekend will be a different story. On Friday, a few big releases, including, The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, Annie and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, should bring in big numbers.

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