Oscar-tipped period drama The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as legendary code breaker Alan Turing, was the big winner at the US box office this weekend, despite opening in just four cinemas in New York and Los Angeles.
Morten Tyldum’s film scored the second-highest per-screen average of the year so far, with $120,500 (£77,000) per cinema. Only Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel did better when it opened on limited release in March.
Elsewhere, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 scored the third-highest five-day opening on a US Thanksgiving holiday, earning an impressive $82.7m in its second week of release, to take the top spot at the box office. The two-week total of $225.7m for Francis Lawrence’s film, which stars Jennifer Lawrence as future rebel Katniss Everdeen, means it is still running way behind predecessor Catching Fire ($296.3m at the same stage). However, the new film now has a worldwide total of more than $480m.
In second place, animated sequel Penguins of Madagascar debuted with a disappointing $36m after opening on Wednesday. It faced stiff competition from Disney’s Big Hero 6, the critically acclaimed Marvel comic book riff which took third with another $26m for a total of $167.2m.
Comedy sequel Horrible Bosses 2 also performed disappointingly, opening at No 4 with a weaker-than-expected $23m over the five-day holiday weekend. The top five was rounded out by Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, which continues to do excellent business in its fourth week of release. The space drama pulled in another $22m for a total of $147.1m.
There were no other new films in the top 10, but another Oscar-tipped biopic, the Stephen Hawking-focused The Theory of Everything, jumped to seventh after expanding nationwide from limited release. It took $6.4m over the five day weekend for a total north American haul of $9.6m.
US top 10
1. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, $82.7m, $225.7m
2. Penguins of Madagascar, $36m, new
3. Big Hero 6, $26m, $167.2m
4. Horrible Bosses 2, $23m, new
5. Interstellar, $22m, $147.1m
6. Dumb and Dumber To, $11.6m, $72.2m
7. The Theory of Everything, $6.4m, $9.6m
8. Gone Girl, $3.3m $160.8m
9. Birdman, $2.4m, $17.2m
10. St Vincent, $2.3m, $39.3m
