“Hunger Games: Mockingjay” landed $17 million at the box office on Thursday evening.
By comparison, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” earned $25.2 million from shows beginning at 8 p.m. on its Thursday debut and the midnight-only screening for “The Hunger Games” brought in $19.7 million.
Analysts expect the film to bring in nearly $150 million at the box office over the weekend. That haul will make it the highest debut of the year, topping the $100 million June debut of “Transformers: Age of Extinction.”
“Mockingjay” isn’t scoring as high with critics as previous installments of the franchise, earning a 69 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.