The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 took in $22.03 million last weekend (Dec. 5-7) to lead the box office for a third consecutive weekend. The third installment of Lionsgate Entertainment’s blockbuster franchise starring Jennifer Lawrence was down 61 percent from the previous weekend’s three-day frame. That represented a slightly better third weekend percentage hold than that of last year’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which fell 65 percent in its third weekend to gross $26.19 million. Mockingjay – Part 1 is the first film to lead the weekend box office since Guardians of the Galaxy did so earlier this year. Mockingjay – Part 1 has grossed $258.15 million through 17 days of release. That places the film 23 percent behind the $335.85 million 17-day take of Catching Fire.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 starring Jennifer Lawrence took in $22.03 million last weekend to lead the box office for a third consecutive weekend. (Photo: Murray Close/Lionsgate Entertainment)

Penguins of Madagascar grossed $10.91 million to remain in second. The 3D computer animated film from 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation was down 57 percent from the previous weekend. It is commonplace for non-holiday family films to drop off significantly the weekend after Thanksgiving, due in part to family attendance traditionally increasing over Thanksgiving weekend. Penguins of Madagascar has grossed $49.39 million through 12 days of release.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ Horrible Bosses 2 was up two spots from the previous weekend to claim third place with $8.42 million. The R-rated comedy sequel was down 46 percent from the previous weekend. That represented one of this weekend’s stronger percentage holds, as the film’s Thanksgiving weekend performance was deflated a bit. With that said, Horrible Bosses 2 is still performing below pre-release expectations with a lackluster 12-day start of just $35.89 million. Horrible Bosses 2 is running a 45 percent behind the $65.67 million 12-day take of 2011’s Horrible Bosses.

Big Hero 6 placed in fourth with $8.04 million. The 3D computer animated film from Walt Disney Animation Studios was down 57 percent. Big Hero 6 has grossed $177.46 million in 31 days. That places the film in good shape to eventually surpass the $200 million domestic mark, especially with the Christmas and New Year’s holidays still ahead of it.

Paramount Pictures’ Interstellar rounded out the weekend’s top five with $7.79 million. The Christopher Nolan directed sci-fi film fell 51 percent. Interstellar continues to run below expectations domestically with $158.45 million after 31 days of wide release. The film has held up nicely thus far, but it will soon begin to face more direct competition from both 20th Century Fox’s Exodus: Gods and Kings and Warner Bros.’ The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox’s The Pyramid was off to a soft ninth place start last weekend with $1.37 million. The writing was on the wall for the low-budget horror film after it was released in just 589 locations last weekend. Fox clearly has its attention already focused on the release of Exodus: Gods and Kings this coming Friday.

Fox Searchlight’s Wild was off to a far more promising start with $606,810 last weekend from 21 locations, including three theaters in the DMV. That gave the drama starring Reese Witherspoon a per-location average of $28,896. After an additional two days of release in five locations, Wild has grossed $654,058 through five days.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 remained in first place last weekend with a three-day take of $56.97 million. The third installment of Lionsgate Entertainment’s blockbuster franchise starring Jennifer Lawrence took in $82.67 million over the five-day period. Mockingjay – Part 1 was down 53 percent from its opening weekend. In comparison, last year’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire fell 53 percent in its second weekend to gross $74.18 million. Mockingjay – Part 1 surpassed the $200 million mark last weekend and has grossed $225.68 million in 10 days. While Mockingjay – Part 1 is already the seventh highest grossing domestic release of 2014, the film is running a significant 24 percent behind the $296.29 million 10-day take of Catching Fire.

Jennifer Lawrence stars as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. (Photo: Murray Close)

Penguins of Madagascar placed a distant second with $25.45 million over the three-day period. The 3D computer animated film from 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation grossed $35.44 million in its first five days, which is below pre-release expectations. Compared to previous Thanksgiving family releases, Penguins of Madagascar opened 10 percent ahead of the $32.34 million five-day start of 2012’s Rise of the Guardiansand 15 percent below the $41.52 million five-day start of 2012’s The Muppets. Penguins of Madagascar is set to mark another underwhelming domestic performer for DreamWorks Animation; as it joins the likes of 2012’s Rise of the Guardians, 2013’s Turbo and to a lesser extent this year’s Mr. Peabody & Sherman.

Horrible Bosses 2 was off to an even softer start last weekend with a fifth place take of $15.46 million over the three-day period. The comedy sequel from Warner Bros. Studios took in $22.77 million over the five-day frame, which was below expectations that had already been scaled back a bit due in part to the film’s poor critical reviews. Horrible Bosses 2 opened 37 percent behind the $36.13 million five-day start of 2011’s Horrible Bosses, which opened on a Friday. Horrible Bosses 2 was hurt by its poor reviews, though the film may be going over a bit better with moviegoers.

The combined performances of Penguins of Madagascar and Horrible Bosses 2 last weekend indicate that moviegoers continue to have sequel fatigue in 2014.

Thanks in part to the softer than expected starts of both Penguins of Madagascarand Horrible Bosses 2, Walt Disney Animation Studio’s Big Hero 6 and Paramount Pictures’ Interstellar both held up nicely last weekend. Big Hero 6 finished in third for the weekend with $18.82 million, which was down a slim 6 percent from the previous weekend. The 3D computer animated film took in $26.02 million over the five-day period. Big Hero 6 has grossed $167.22 million through 24 days of release.

Interstellar claimed fourth place over the weekend with $15.74 million. The Christopher Nolan directed sci-fi film was up 3 percent over the previous weekend. Interstellar took in an estimated $21.96 million over the five-day period and has grossed $147.04 million through 24 days of release. While Interstellar continues to perform below expectations, the film is displaying very solid holding power, due in part to good word of mouth, continued IMAX grosses and from skewing heavily towards older moviegoers.

Universal Pictures’ Dumb and Dumber Totook sixth place with $8.36 million over the three-day period. Despite the poorer than expected performance of Horrible Bosses 2, Dumb and Dumber To still took a hit last weekend, as it was down a sharp 41 percent from the previous weekend. Dumb and Dumber To took in $11.66 million over the five-day frame and has grossed a solid $72.24 million in 17 days.

The Theory of Everything had a very promising expansion last weekend with a three-day take of $5.01 million. That placed the awards season hopeful from Focus Features in seventh place among all films last weekend. The film has grossed $9.53 million in 24 days and should continue to hold up well going forward.

Lionsgate Entertainment’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 registered the largest opening weekend of 2014 with $121.898 million last weekend. However, the third installment of the blockbuster franchise starring Jennifer Lawrence debuted a significant 23 percent below the $158.07 million start of last year’s Catching Fire and 20 percent below the $152.54 million start of 2012’s The Hunger Games. While Mockingjay – Part 1 had been largely expected to open below Catching Fire due in part to not having an IMAX boost this time around, the degree of the drop-off was unexpected.

Liam Hemsworth and Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (Photo: Murray Close/Lionsgate Entertainment)

With that said, it should be noted that in addition to easily generating the largest opening weekend of 2014 — the previous high being the $100.04 million start of Transformers: Age of Extinction — Mockingjay – Part 1 also claimed the sixth largest opening weekend ever for the month of November and the 15th largest opening weekend of all-time without adjusting for ticket price inflation. Those are still impressive accomplishments, especially without the aid of either 3D or IMAX sales.

Mockingjay – Part 1 will likely display similar holding power to that of Catching Fire, though Mockingjay – Part 1 could potentially hold up slightly better due in part from having opened significantly lower and in part from not having to face competition from Frozen.

Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Big Hero 6 took in $20.12 million to remain in second place. The 3D computer animated film was down 42 percent from its opening weekend weekend. Even though Mockingjay – Part 1 didn’t pack the same punch as Catching Fire did last year, it still had a clear effect on holdovers, as percentage declines from last weekend were significant in general. Big Hero 6 has grossed $135.75 million through 17 days of release. While it will face new direct competition from 20th Century Fox’s Penguins of Madagascar beginning on Wednesday, Big Hero 6 is likely to hold up nicely over Thanksgiving weekend thanks in part to strong word of mouth and in part based on historical trends for family fare over the Thanksgiving frame.