Krampus Wins Friday Box Office; Good Dinosaur Has Meteoric Fall

Post-Thanksgiving weekend at the box office has been traditionally dreary, but its actually off to a good start as the top 20 films grossed $28.5M on Friday. Yes, that's 60% off from Black Friday, but it puts the weekend on pace for $94M, well above Labor Day weekend's $87.8M, Halloween weekend's $74M and will easily beat $78.2M the same frame earned a year ago.

Part of the reason for this weekend's surprise success is Friday's champ: Krampus. The holiday horror-comedy grossed $6.05M on Friday and is now on pace to finish in second with a better-than-expected $15.3M. Krampus received a 'B-' score from audiences, which doesn't sound like much but in reality it's a favorable score for a horror film.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 took second on Friday with $5.7M, however, it will hold on to its box office crown for a third week in a row with $18.8M. Analysts expected the film to pull in as much as $21M for the weekend, so Lionsgate has to be slightly disappointed with that figure. Overall the film should finish the weekend with a $227.3M domestic total.

The Good Dinosaur is going extinct at the box office. The Pixar-Disney film only snagged $3.4M on Friday, which is 78% off from last Friday. It's expected to slide into third with $15.1M for the weekend and have a 2-week domestic total of $75.6M.

Meanwhile, Creed had the third-best Friday with $4.6M but will grab fourth for the weekend with $14.6M. Still impressive. Spectre should finish the weekend in fifth with $5.6M. The Night Before slinks into sixth with $4.9M for the weekend. The Peanuts Movie hangs on for seventh with $3.4M for the weekend. Spotlight prays for an eighth-place finish with a $2.9M weekend. Brooklyn should take in $2.7M this weekend, good enough for ninth. Secret In Their Eyes could finish in tenth with a $2M weekend