As the studios batten down the hatches and prepare for the category five storm of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, due out in theatres worldwide in two weeks, there were few new entries to the domestic and international markets. Warner Bros., braving the force of Disney’s brewing gale, launched their Moby Dick-inspired seafaring epic In the Heart of the Sea. It tells the tale of the whaling ship Essex and its crew. In Ron Howard’s version of the Moby Dick story, immortalized by Herman Melville in 1851, Chris Hemsworth plays first mate Owen Chase, while Benjamin Walker plays Captain Pollard, the inspiration for Melville’s Ahab. In a considerably more action-packed version of this seafaring tale of obsession and survival, Hemsworth’s character must contend with both the fury of the enraged Moby Dick and the perils of the open ocean after their ship is sunk and the crew is forced to make for the coast of Chile in their harpoon skiffs. It opened to $17.1 million in 38 markets. Heart of the Sea’s biggest territory was South Korea, where it earned $2.5 million, finishing second to local phenomenon Inside Men. It came first in Russia with $2 million, and second in Mexico with $1.8 million, while Italy was worth $1.6 million.

The biggest new opening in the U.S. was Legendary and Universal’s Christmas thriller Krampus. Starring Adam Scott, Toni Colette, and David Koechner, the film tells the story of a family who pays a steep price for their disenchantment with the Western world’s biggest holiday. After several days of general family dysfunction and quarreling, they receive a visit on Christmas Eve not from Santa Claus, but from his more sinister counterpart. The Krampus is a horned demon from alpine folklore who comes down from his cave at the end of December to eat naughty children, and in director Michael Dougherty’s picture an unfortunate family has to fight for their lives when it comes to punish their bad deeds. The film earned $16 million at home and $3.3 million abroad for a cumulative of $19.3 at the close of its first frame.

Point Break, a classic of much more modern folklore, saw its remake open in China this weekend. This reincarnation of the 1991 cult hit sees Australian Luke Bracey take over Keanu Reeves’s iconic role as Johnny Utah, while Edgar Ramirez plays the Patrick Swayze’s daredevil villain Bodhi. It made $12 million from its opening weekend in the Middle Kingdom after a Beijing premiere on the first of December, and will move into theatres across Central Europe, South America, and the U.S. on Christmas Day, with more territories to follow in January 2016.

On the specialty market, Fox Searchlight’s Youth opened in four U.S. theaters this weekend, earning $80K on a per theater average of $20K. The film is the second English language feature by 2014 foreign film Golden Globe-winner, Paolo Sorrentino. It stars Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel as a pair of best friends, well on in years, who reflect on age and on their lives in a Swiss spa-hotel amid a series of surreal occurrences. It also stars Jane Fonda, Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano, Ed Stoppard and an obese footballer who looks a lot like soccer legend Diego Maradona. Macbeth, from director Justin Kurezel and starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard as the cursed Lord and Lady of William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, opened in five theaters, earning an average of $13,574.

In holdover news, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 came in first again both at home and abroad. In the U.S. and Canada it made $18.6 million in its third weekend to reach a domestic total of $227.1 million. Overseas it enjoyed strong showings in the UK and Germany, ending its third week with a $35.8 million take and combined offshore earnings of $296.8 million. While it won’t reach Catching Fire’s $865 million benchmark, it easily crossed the half-billion mark, with a global cumulative of $523.9 million.

Next week we will follow the current crop of top films, along with the U.S. release of In The Heart of the Sea.

Lorenzo Soria