Box Office: ‘Hunger Games’ Gobbles Up $19.1 Million Opening Day, ‘Trolls 3’ Rolls to Second as ‘The Marvels’ Faces Brutal Drop

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes has caught some fire at the domestic box office. Lionsgates Hunger Games prequel earned about $19.1 million on its opening day from 3,776 locations, a figure that includes $5.75 million in Thursday previews.

The new installment in the young adult dystopian action series will still secure the top slot at the domestic box office over a busy weekend, which also sees the wide releases of the animated sequel Trolls Band Together and the seasonal slasher Thanksgiving.

Songbirds and Snakes has a leg up with increased ticket prices from Imax and other premium large formats. Its looking at a three-day tally of about $45 million, which would mark an okay debut for a franchise revival with a $100 million production budget. Thats still trending behind projections of $50 million heading into the weekend. It also has little hope of reaching the box office heights of previous Hunger Games entries. The 2012 original notched a March opening weekend record at the time with a staggering $152 million. Catching Fire followed with $158 million before the two-part Mockingjay finale sloped down with $121 million and $102 million.

Franchise nostalgia doesnt seemed to have reached reviews, with the critical response around this entry marking a series-low. Early audiences are more positive though not over the moon, as indicated by the B+ grade through research firm Cinema Score. The Hunger Games prequel will need to sustain some buzz through the Thanksgiving holiday to prove the property can still draw a crowd.

Songbirds and Snakes stars Tom Blyth as a young Coriolanus Snow, who will go on to lead the class disparity-plagued country of Panem in the original Hunger Games, a role played by Donald Sutherland in those. Rachel Zegler also stars as Hunger Games contestant Lucy Gray Baird, who charms Coriolanus. The cast also includes Hunter Schafer, Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis and Jason Schwartzman. Franchise regular Francis Lawrence returns to direct.

Meanwhile, The Marvels is facing a steep tumble in its second outing. The Marvel Studios production earned $2.8 million on Friday, down a staggering 87% from its opening day last week. Itll be lucky to hit $10 million in its sophomore outing. Last springs Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania cinched the Marvel Cinematic Universe superlative for biggest second weekend plummet when it dropped 69.9%. Only a few months later, The Marvels seems likely to break that record.

Hefty percentage drop-offs from opening weekends are pretty commonplace among superhero entries, but The Marvels also got off to a slow start with a franchise record-low $46.1 million debut. Now, the film is fading quickly in a marketplace that will only get more crowded over the Thanksgiving holiday. Ten-day domestic total will fall around $64 million a grim result considering the films $220 million production budget.

Trolls Band Together is headed for second place, projecting $30 million from 3,870 venues over the three-day frame. The DreamWorks Animation production earned $9.3 million on its opening day. Thats tracking behind the $46 million debut that the original Trolls landed in November 2016.

Barring the Minions and the Mario Bros., animated features have had trouble matching the blockbuster numbers that they could draw before the pandemic. Band Together wont be a massive smash on that level, but its hoping to be a healthy hit. Though Trolls has never been a critical darling franchise, its jukebox musical slant has given the series some lasting appeal. Plus, the film sports a $95 million production budget, falling below the hefty price tags that come with other animation tentpoles.

Band Together will be fending for family audiences when it goes up against Disneys own animated adventure Wish over the Thanksgiving holiday. A glowing A Cinema Score is an auspicious sign.

The Trolls threequel sees Queen Poppy (voiced by Anna Kendrick) and Branch (Justin Timberlake) finally making their budding Troll romance official. But Branchs boy band brothers step back into the picture and shake up the status quo. Then they all sing and dance together. Walt Dohrn returns to direct.

Sonys slasher Thanksgiving earned $3.8 million across Thursday and Friday. The Eli Roth-directed horror film is now coming in a tad behind projections, looking at a $10 million debut. Its not a very splashy figure good for third or fourth place on domestic charts. But with a modest $15 million production budget, some notably positive reviews and the films eponymous holiday still ahead on the calendar, Thanksgiving is positioned to clean up nicely. Theres a B- Cinema Score grade to account for, but thats pretty routine for a horror film.

Universals Five Nights at Freddys looks to round out the top five in its fourth weekend of release. The PG-13 adaptation of the massively popular horror video game series is looking at $3.1 million through the weekend, projecting another sizable drop. The domestic total should surpass $132 million by Sunday, ranking as the 17th-highest grossing North American release of the year.

Also opening nationwide, Searchlight Pictures is dropping Taika Waititis long-on-the-shelf soccer comedy Next Goal Wins in 2,240 theaters. The film will open outside the top five after earning a paltry $1.1 million on opening day. Its a swerve from that platform release that the directors last Searchlight film, Jojo Rabbit, rolled out with in 2019. But Next Goal Wins has much worse reviews after landing with a thud at the Toronto Film Festival. Audiences are more positive with a B+.