Everyone called this one. We all knew Hunger Games was going to be huge movie. The film received a strong “A” CinemaScore, and is estimated to finish the weekend with anywhere from $135 million to $160 million. According to Box Office Mojo, The Hunger Games had one of the best opening days ever at an estimated $68.25 million. That ranks fifth on the all-time list behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($91.1 million), New Moon ($72.7 million), Breaking Dawn Part 1 ($71.6 million) and Eclipse ($68.5 million). It wound up slightly ahead of The Dark Knight ($71.6 million), and also topped Alice in Wonderland ($40.8 million) to set a new record for a non-sequel.
They go on to say that The Hunger Games looks even more impressive when subtracting its $19.74 million midnight gross—throughout normal business hours, the movie earned $48.5 million, which is actually more than Deathly Hallows Part 2made in that time ($47.57 million). The Hunger Games only ranks behind Spider-Man 3 ($49.8 million) and The Dark Knight ($48.7 million) in non-midnight opening day grosses.
Congrats to Gary Ross and Suzanne Collins (director and writer), producers Nina Jacobson, Jon Kilik and Aldric La’auli Porter, the stars Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Jennifer Lawrence, Willow Shields, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Director of Photography, Tom Stern and not to take away the rest of the cast and crew but especially the visual effects, special effects, animation and art teams. Great work.
- TY Walker
