Despite months of controversy and recent cries for a boycott among prominent local entertainers, Chi-Raq is reportedly doing strong business in Chicago. Spike Lee’s ambitious satire about gun violence in The Windy City made $1.2 million nationwide this weekend; Amazon, which is getting into theatrical releases with the film, is reporting that its best business was in the town where it was shot and set. While a million and change wasn’t enough for Chi-Raq to break the domestic top 10, it’s pretty solid for a movie of its size and budget. It’s also Lee’s best debut since Miracle At St. Anna, and a bounce-back from that Oldboy remake just about everyone has forgotten about.
As expected, the final Hunger Games movie held down the No. 1 spot this weekend, adding another $18.6 million to its domestic haul. (Prediction: It continues to go all Katniss on the competition until Star Wars opens in two weeks.) More surprising was the success of Krampus, the holiday-themed horror movie that managed to claim the No. 2 spot this weekend with a relatively robust $16 million opening. Most analysts were predicting a chilly, coal-in-the-stocking kind of reception for the movie, but they apparently underestimated the appeal of Adam Scott cowering in fear from a carnivorous jack-in-the-box. Are people so full of holiday spirit that they’ll watch a Christmas movie with monsters in it? Or is it the opposite, and everyone’s so damn tired of hearing Christmas music everywhere that they’re ready to pledge their allegiance to the anti-Santa? Either way, Krampus is already a modest hit, having made back most of its budget.
While Creed continued to fulfill its crowd-pleasing duties to the tune of another $15.5 million, The Good Dinosaur took a very big dip, losing about 60 percent of its audience. That’s the worst drop for a Pixar movie ever, worse even than the hemorrhage Cars 2 suffered back in 2011. One could blame the bumpiness of the film itself, a troubled production whose troubles are at least a little evident in the finished product. Or maybe it’s that Disney has almost treated The Good Dinosaur as a write-off, going much lighter than usual on advertisements. However you come at it, it’s looking likely that this could be Pixar’s lowest grosser. Don’t cry for the Bay Area animators, though: This summer’s Inside Out is one of their biggest hits ever, and something tells us that next summer’s Finding Dory will do just fine. They can afford to take a hit or two.
For more detailed numbers, visit Box Office Mojo.