In the Heart of the Sea sinks at the box office

Ron Howard’s In the Heart of the Sea has flopped at the US box office, making just $11m (£7.25m) from its opening weekend. It still claimed second spot however, behind The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.

The film was based on the true events which inspired the book Moby Dick and had an estimated $100m (£65.9m) budget.

“We stand behind Ron and his vision for the story,” said Jeff Goldstein, a Warner Bros vice president. We believe in him. He’s a terrific filmmaker. But some movies work and unfortunately some movies don’t.”

Of course, Hollywood is bracing itself for the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which debuts this week and is expected to become the biggest launch in history.

The rest of the US box office was fairly evenly spread, with The Good Dinosaur in third place with $10.5m (£6.9m) and then Creed in fourth with $10.1m (£6.6m) and Krampus in fifth with $8m (£5.7m).