Penguins of Madagascar, coming in at $56.5 million, leads off our abbreviated Oracle (it’s Thanksgiving!). My reasoning is fairly simple – the last one opened at $60 million back in 2012. That one was in June, and faced less competition, which is why I’ve dinged it around ten percent (with inflation).
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 had the worst opening of any of the Hunger Games films so far, and you can add to that the normal blockbuster frontload drop as we head into the Thanksgiving Weekend. As a result, $53.6 million is my call, a 56% dip, but if it performs better, #1 is within reach.
Somehow Horrible Bosses 2 is trending around 30 percent less on RT than the original, for reasons unclear to me. I like the play for comedy this weekend, we all need a little laugh after a 4,000 calorie binge. $40.5 million is where I’m coming in.
Finally, a fun little title called The Theory of Everything. It did amazingly well in limited theaters last weekend, and it’s picking up more than 650 extra theaters this weekend. This is the only “adult” film that’s getting major trailer marketing, so I’m bullish with $9.7 million.
Your turn! Happy Thanksgiving or normal Thursday for our international readers!
Current Record: 55-111-6 against the wisdom of the crowds
SIDE NOTE: Some of the theater numbers below are estimates. We’ll have the actual counts in Sunday’s wrap-up article.
