Exodus: Gods and Kings Tops Three-Week Champ The Hunger Games

After three weekends of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 ruling the box office, director Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings took over with an estimated $24.5 million from 3,503 theaters, an average of $6,994 per theater. Starring Christian Bale as Moses and Joel Edgerton as Ramses, the biblical epic received a B- CinemaScore from audiences. The 20th Century Fox release cost about $140 million to make.

Despite dropping to second place, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 added another $13.2 million in its fourth weekend in theaters. Domestically, the third installment has reached $277.4 million. The Francis Lawrence-directed sequel, starring Jennifer Lawrence and costing $125 million to make, has also grossed an estimated $334 million internationally for a worldwide total of $611.4 million. The last film, Catching Fire, reached $864.9 million worldwide. With the earnings for “Mockingjay – Part 1” this weekend, Lionsgate was able to cross the $1 billion mark internationally for the third year in a row.

DreamWorks Animation’s Penguins of Madagascar, distributed by 20th Century Fox, came in at No. 3 with $7.3 million in its third weekend. The spin-off feature has collected $58.8 million so far domestically but was budgeted at $132 million. The worldwide sum is at $160.7 million.

Chris Rock’s Top Five opened in fourth place in just 979 theaters, averaging $7,365 per location. Chris Rock wrote, directed and stars in the film, which was picked up by Paramount Pictures at the Toronto Film Festival for $12.5 million and was promoted for about $20 million. The movie also stars Rosario Dawson, JB Smoove, Gabrielle Union, Tracy Morgan, Cedric the Entertainer, Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd, Jay Pharoah, Anders Holm and Michael Che.

Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Big Hero 6 rounded out the top five its sixth weekend with $6.1 million and has reached $185.3 million domestically. International, the film added $3.9 million for a total of $68.2 million and worldwide sum of $253.5 million. The animated feature has only been released in 24% of its total overseas markets.

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar dropped a spot to sixth with $5.5 million. The movie has earned $166.8 million domestically and $434.4 million overseas for a worldwide total of $601.2 million after six weeks.

Horrible Bosses 2, meanwhile, dropped four spots to seventh. Taking in $4.6 million its third weekend, the comedy sequel has brought in $43.6 million domestically.

In limited release, Wild took in 1.6 million from 116 theaters for an average of $13,362 per theater, while The Imitation Game performed stronger with $875,000 from just 25 theaters, an average of $35,000 per location. Neither was able to match the theater average of Inherent Vice, however, as the Paul Thomas Anderson film earned $330,000 in five theaters, an average of $66,000.