Box Office Battle: Hunger Games prequel wins weekend with $44M debut

“Box Office Battle” is The Fly’s weekly roundup of what movies topped the weekend’s box office.

LionsGate’s (LGF.B) “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” opened to $44M, winning this weekend at the domestic box office. Overseas, the Hunger Games prequel earned an estimated $54.5M. “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” sports a B+ CinemaScore, which is the lowest of the franchise.

BOX OFFICE RUNNER-UPS: Comcast (CMCSA) subsidiary Universal’s “Trolls Band Together” placed number 2 with a $30.6M debut. Behind it was Marvel Studios and Disney’s (DIS) “The Marvels,” which grossed an estimated $10.2M from 4,030 locations. TriStar Pictures’ “Thanksgiving” placed number 4 with a $10.2M debut. Rounding out the top five, Comcast subsidiary Universal’s “Five Nights at Freddy’s” earned another $3.5M from 2,829 theaters.  

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE:

1. “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” – $44M
2. “Trolls Band Together” – $30.6M
3. “The Marvels” – $10.2M
4. “Thanksgiving” – $10.2M
5. “Five Nights at Freddy’s” – $2.7M

Other publicly traded companies in filmmaking include Paramount (PARA), Sony (SONY), Warner Bros. (WBD), Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) with its MGM Holdings.