Welcome to Going Bionic #242. Today we’re feasting on The Hunger Games ”Mockingjay, Part 1” and how its immense international appeal just trumped less than magical domestic earnings over its opening weekend. With the international box office mushrooming daily, the domestic box office is becoming slightly less significant, tent pole release after tent pole release. Thus, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 is an excellent example of why major studios are “thinking globally” more than ever before. So, without further ado, let’s examine just how hungry the world got over Mockingjay, Part 1.
International Audiences Are Hungrier For Hunger Games
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 earned $154,300,000 in international territories, which is nearly $33 million plus more than the $121,897,654 it earned domestically. $19.9 million was nabbed in the UK, $13.7 million in Germany, $11.1 million in Russia, and $10.1 in Australia. Furthermore, several more territories recorded seven figure returns over the weekend. These include the Netherlands, who brought $2,478,856 to the international box office party, while New Zealand added $1,797,377 and Finland raked in $1,007,562.
Opening Prior To Thanksgiving Boosted Market Share
Distributor Lionsgate was smart to release Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1, one week prior to Thanksgiving weekend. This is because releasing a film on a holiday weekend where there’s a sea of major releases spending a galaxy of advertising dollars in order to compete for box office dollars, will do nothing other than significantly reduce weekend earnings.
Reality Check (The Film Certainly Didn’t Bomb)
Even though the numbers for Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 fell short of the previous releases from the franchise, the picture’s $121,897,654 became the biggest weekend gross of 2014. Mockingjay, Part 1 also earned an astonishingly high $29,366 per screen average over 4,151 screens. Furthermore, the film earned nearly its entire $125 million production budget in the first three days of domestic release, and it earned nearly double its budget, once you include foreign earnings. Thus, having a major studio release make more money overseas than it does domestically shouldn’t be a sign of domestic failure; it should signal global success.
Okay, filmmakers! Going Bionic #242 is hereby in the books! As always, thank you for lending me your eyes, and I look forward to borrowing them again next Tuesday. Until then, I wish everyone a very happy, healthy, and undeniably scrumptious Thanksgiving! I can be followed on Twitter @Lonelyseal.
