‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ scores box office-topping $44 million debut

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes fell short of expectations, but still managed to top the North American box office with an estimated $44 million. The Hunger Games prequel — starring Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth — added an estimated $4.5 million overseas, for a $98.5 million global tally — the franchise’s smallest opening weekend.

Trolls Band Together opened in second place, collecting an estimated $31.7 million at the domestic box office. The fourth film in the animated franchise — once again featuring the voices of Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake — added an estimated $76.3 million, for a total of $108.1 million worldwide.

The Marvels, which topped the box office last week, despite logged the worst opening for an MCU film, followed that up with a 78% drop — also the worst in MCU history. It’s tied for third place with Thanksgiving, each earning an estimated $10.2 million at the North American box office.

Rounding out the top five was Five Nights at Freddy’s, delivering an estimated $3.5 million at the domestic box office.