Hunger Games, Good Dinosaur, & Creed Take Top 3 Spots At Holiday Weekend Box Office

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part Two took the top spot at the U.S. box office for the second week in a row, but it was just below that where there was some interesting stuff going on.

Mockingjay took in $51 million for the three-day weekend and $75 million for the five-day, according to box office estimates. That brings it over $200 million US and $400 million globally. That $51 million means about a 50% drop week to week for Mockingjay. Typically that might not be considered a huge hit, but the holiday weekend throws that math, and there's no way around it: $200 million-plus through two weeks is good.

The Good Dinosaur brought in $39 million this weekend, which was good enough for second place but the lowest Pixar (wide-release) opening weekend since A Bug's Life. The film, a product of a troubled production that saw it delayed when Pixar decided to change directors, has received solid reviews but of course, the expectations for Pixar are different -- and higher -- than for just about anybody else.

The film likely took a bit of a hit since it was coming out so soon after Inside Out, which drew rave reviews. The film will almost certainly make its money back, but since it cost more than $175 million according to most estimates, that might not happen just in the US.

That's nowhere near the disappointment of Victor Frankenstein, though; that film, which stars Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy, finished outside of the top ten altogether in its opening.

Creed came in at just over $30 million, which took the #3 spot, but the narrative is that the film -- which cost $35 million to make and has grabbed $42 million since Wednesday -- is the big winner. Now a bona fide hit, Creed brought in the biggest opening weekend of the storied Rocky franchise and seems to be the shot in the arm that both Warner Bros. and Michael B. Jordan had needed it to be.