Star Wars blamed for Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2’s disappointing box office

With $652 million worldwide, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 was the lowest-grossing entry in the Lionsgate book-to-film franchise.

As the fourth (and hopefully final) entry in the franchise — at least based on any of the existing books — you'd think it was more franchise fatigue that caused the film to underperform in the box office. Comparitively, Mockingjay earned over $100 million less than what Part 1 earned.

But no. During a conference call with investors, the studio — whose stock took a tumble after announcing weaker than expected Q3 earnings — blamed the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the Paris terrorist attack last November for the film's "softer than anticipated" performance.

"I think the combination of circumstances was unique between the terrorist attack in Europe and Star Wars," said Rob Friedman, Lionsgate's co-chairman of the Motion Picture Group.

By the studio's estimates, The Force Awakens' record-breaking box office run "hit our numbers by somewhere between $50M and $100M," Friedman added. Lionsgate also blamed Mockingjay's underperformance in the Chinese market to overcrowding.

Never during the earnings call did the studio suggest that franchise fatigue or perhaps the weak quality of the final installment impacted its numbers. And this, my friends, is why I hate splitting a third book into two movies, especially when it doesn't call for it.

[Deadline]