Of this weekend’s ten highest-grossing movies, it wasn’t the top movie or even the best debut that had everyone talking over the last few days. The film generating the most buzz this weekend was Creed, the seventh installment of the Rocky franchise and the surprising recipient of some serious award buzz.
Co-written and directed by Fruitvale Station filmmaker Ryan Coogler, Creed enjoyed a respectable $30.1 million opening weekend that gave it the 10th best Thanksgiving weekend debut and the most successful opening weekend of all the Rocky movies to date. The film casts Fantastic Four actor Michael B. Jordan as the son of boxer Apollo Creed, the former foe and later close friend of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa, who attempts to forge his own legend in the ring with the help of the famous fighter who dethroned his father. Along with rave reviews from critics and general audiences alike, the film has also generated some talk of Stallone earning a “Best Supporting Actor” nod at the upcoming Academy Awards.
Still, despite all of the buzz surrounding Creed, it was only the third highest-grossing film of the weekend.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 took the top spot for the weekend, while the latest collaboration between Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation, The Good Dinosaur, debuted to the tune of $39.2 million. While the animated feature earned positive reviews from critics and general audiences, it also had the worst debut for a Disney/Pixar film since 1998’s A Bug’s Life. Given the approach of the holiday season, there’s probably not much cause for concern, as The Good Dinosaur is one of the most prominent family-friendly films heading into that period (along with The Peanuts Movie).
| # | Title | Weekend | U.S. Total | Worldwide Total |
| 1. | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 | $51.6M | $198.3M | $440.7M |
| 2. | The Good Dinosaur | $39.2M | $55.6M | $84.3M |
| 3. | Creed | $30.1M | $42.6M | $44.9M |
| 4. | Spectre | $12.8M | $176.1M | $749.6M |
| 5. | The Peanuts Movie | $9.7M | $116.8 | $126.1M |
| 6. | The Night Before | $8.2M | $24.1M | $24.1M |
| 7. | The Secret In Their Eyes | $4.5M | $14M | $14M |
| 8. | Spotlight | $4.5M | $12.3M | $12.3M |
| 9. | Brooklyn | $3.8M | $7.3M | $7.3M |
| 10. | The Martian | $3.3M | $218.6M | $545.1M |
As for the rest of the weekend’s highest-grossing films, Spectre moved into second place on the all-time list of James Bond movies screened in both U.S. theaters and worldwide. The film now only ranks behind 2012’s Skyfall among the famous secret agent’s big-screen adventures.
Also debuting in theaters over the Thanksgiving weekend was Victor Frankenstein, the supernatural drama starring Harry Potter alum Daniel Radcliffe and X-Men franchise actor James McAvoy. The film never managed to find the spark of life, though, and earned just $2.4 million in its opening weekend, giving it one of the worst debuts of all time for the five-day holiday weekend.
The Oscar-friendly biopic The Danish Girl also made its debut over the weekend, but the film — which casts Eddie Redmayne as one of the first known recipients of sex-reassignment surgery — was only screened in four theaters in New York City and Los Angeles. Even so, it earned just over $185,000 for a respectable per-theater average of $46,250.
Next weekend features the release of the holiday-themed horror comedy Krampus, as well as the ensemble drama Youth, starring Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano, and Jane Fonda. The latest big-screen adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, also kicks off its limited release in theaters.
