'Krampus' fails to scare 'Hunger Games' from top of box office

Los Angeles- The final installment of the "Hunger Games" dominated the box office in the United States and Canada for a third straight week, with Christmas horror flick "Krampus" scaring up the number two spot.

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2," the fourth installment of the blockbuster franchise that turned Jennifer Lawrence into a Hollywood mega-star, raked in $18.6 million (S$26 million) in ticket sales, according to estimates Sunday from box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

The movie has shrugged off lukewarm reviews to earn $227.1 million over three weeks.

Debuting in number two was "Krampus," a tale of Christmas gone awry when a boy accidentally summons a demon to his family's holiday gathering. The film earned $16.0 million.

In third place for a second week was boxing flick "Creed," a next-generation version of the "Rocky" series, whose revenue totaled $15.54 million.

Disney's animated "The Good Dinosaur" came in just behind with $15.51 million.

Meanwhile "Spectre," the latest James Bond movie, dropped to fifth place, with estimated gross sales of $5.4 million.

The star-studded spy thriller - with Daniel Craig as 007, and featuring Italy's Monica Bellucci and Austrian Oscar winner Christoph Waltz as the villain - has taken in $176.1 million in its four weeks in North American cinemas, according to estimates.

Estimates for the rest of the top 10 were as follows: 6. "The Night Before" ($4.9 million) 7. "The Peanuts Movie" ($3.5 million) 8. "Spotlight" ($2.9 million) 9. "Brooklyn" ($2.4 million) 10. "Secret in Their Eyes" ($2.0 million)