Hunger Games takes a huge box office bite!
The odds were clearly in favor of THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE — the sequel opened this weekend with a colossal $161.1 million!
That means CATCHING FIRE had the biggest November opening of all time ($25 million of which came from Thursday night shows), far ahead of three TWILIGHTs and three HARRY POTTERs. It's also marks the second-highest opening weekend of 2013, behind IRON MAN 3's $174.1 million. And it's the fourth-biggest opening weekend ever, inching past THE DARK KNIGHT and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (not to mention the first HUNGER GAMES, which opened with $152.5 million in May 2012 and went on to $408 million domestically).
Katniss captivated the world at large — THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE has gathered a global total of $307.7 million, and seems on pace to surpass the $691.2 worldwide final of THE HUNGER GAMES.
Crowds and critics alike were ravenous for the ever-loveable Jennifer Lawrence and the bleak futuristic death contest, giving it an 'A' CinemaScore and a current 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. And with the holiday coming up, CATCHING FIRE is poised for another whopper of a weekend.
THOR: THE DARK WORLD got hammered down to second place with $14.1 million for its third weekend (a mortal drop of 61% from last week), but the Asgardian's latest adventure is up to $548.8 million worldwide, substantially more than a Mjolnir-throw above the first THOR's $449.3 million total.
Not far below the Thunder Hunk was THE BEST MAN HOLIDAY in third with $12.5 million (a 58% slash off its opening) and a 10-day total of $50.3 million. The sequel's attractive cast was obviously more appealing than the latest comedic attempt by Vince Vaughn, whose new DELIVERY MAN got left on the doorstep in fourth with an opening of just $8.2 million. On the plus side, the few people who did pay to see it gave the movie a 'B+' CinemaScore…
FREE BIRDS and LAST VEGAS are still battling with each other for placement on the list, although the latter seems the wiser investment so far ($53.9 million total against a reported cost of $28 million).
JACKASS PRESENTS BAD GRANDPA and GRAVITY followed behind picking up the scraps left in CATCHING FIRE's embers, along with awards favorites 12 YEARS A SLAVE and DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, which pops into the Top 10 with $2.7 million as it expanded onto 666 screens (hail Satan).
Outside the chart, ENDER'S GAME, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS and ABOUT TIME were slain at the Cornucopia, while in limited release, Dame Judi Dench got attention for her performance in PHILOMENA, which started out with a $33k per-screen average. Additionally, for some reason Disney opened their new animated feature FROZEN on a single screen and collected a cool $238k.
Wednesday of this week presents a few new challengers to Panem's finest: the holiday musical drama BLACK NATIVITY, the Jason Statham/James Franco showdown HOMEFRONT (written by Sly Stallone), Spike Lee's remake of the Korean thriller OLDBOY, and Disney's latest computer-animated offering FROZEN, while PHILOMENA and the drama THE BOOK THIEF expand out of limited release.
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| # | MOVIE TITLE | WKND $ | TOTAL $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Hunger Games: Catching Fire | $161.1 M | NEW |
| 2 | Thor: The Dark World | $14.1 M | $167.8 M |
| 3 | The Best Man Holiday | $12.5 M | $50.3 M |
| 4 | Delivery Man | $8.2 M | NEW |
| 5 | Free Birds | $5.3 M | $48.5 M |
| 6 | Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa | $3.4 M | $95.4 M |
| 7 | Last Vegas | $4.4 M | $53.9 M |
| 8 | Gravity | $3.3 M | $245.5 M |
| 9 | 12 Years a Slave | $2.8 M | $29.3 M |
| 10 | Dallas Buyers Club | $2.7 M | $6.4 M |