The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 starring Jennifer Lawrence was the clear winner at the North American box office although it scored the lowest of all three entries in the franchise so far.

The estimated $123m three-day haul through Lionsgate combined with the $152m international debut for $275m worldwide.

Compared to Catching Fire’s $158.1m November 2013 debut and The Hunger Games’ $152.5m debut in March 2012, Mockingjay – Part 1 fell 22.2% rising to $23.6m when adjusted for inflation and 19.3% rising to 22.1% when adjusted for inflation, respectively.

Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Stanley Tucci, Jeffrey Wright and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman round out the key cast.

The rest of the top 10 mostly stayed the same. Interstellar at number three crossed $100m in its third session through Paramount to reach a disappointing $120.7m after three sessions given the $165m production pricetag that does not include P&A spend.

Disney’s Big Hero 6 ranks second and has reached $135.7m after three.

James Marsh’s Stephen Hawking drama The Theory Of Everything starring hot awards contenders Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones has broken into the top 10 in its third weekend after Focus Features expanded the theatre count from 41 to 140.

The drama climbed seven places on $1.5m for an early $2.8m.

St. Vincent has grossed $36.6m through TWC after seven and ranks seventh, while Fury in eighth place stands at $79.2m after six.

Fox Searchlight- New Regency’s Birdman at number nine has amassed $14.4m after six and Nightcrawler ranks 11th through Open Road on an impressive $27.2m after four.

In its second weekend following a storming debut, Foxcatcher expanded from six to 24 sites and added $474,000 through SPC for $822,000. Rosewater stands at $2.1m through Open Road after two sessions and Whiplash $3.2m through SPC after seven.

Overall the $187.2m box office for the top 12 climbed 44.5% over last weekend but fell 14.3% against the $218.4m comparable session in 2013, when Catching Fire opened top.  

This week’s wide releases are the Warner Bros comedy sequel Horrible Bosses 2 starring Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, Christoph Watz, Kevin Spacey and Jason Sudeikis; and DreamWorks Animation’s Penguins Of Madagascar through Fox.

Estimated Top 10 North America Nov 21-23 2014
Film (Dist) / Est wkd gross / Est total to date

1 (-) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (Lionsgate) Lionsgate International $123m –

2 (2) Big Hero 6 (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $20.1m $135.7m

3 (3) Interstellar (Paramount) Warner Bros Pictures International $15.1m $120.7m

4 (1) Dumb And Dumber To (Universal) $13.8m $57.5m

5 (5) Gone Girl (Fox) Fox International $2.8m $156.8m

6 (4) Beyond The Lights (Relativity) Relativity International $2.6m $10.1m

7 (6) St. Vincent (TWC) TWC International $2.4m $36.6m

8 (7) Fury (Sony Pictures) QED International $1.9m $79.2m

9 (10) Birdman (Fox Searchlight) Fox International $1.86m $14.4m

10 (9) Nightcrawler (Open Road) Sierra/Affinity $1.2m $27.2m

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