DIGGIN’ IN
$155M feast for ‘Games’!
MOVIEGOERS SATIATED their appetite for “The Hunger Games,” propelling the postapocalyptic flick to a $155 million weekend — the third-biggest box-office debut in cinematic history.
The weekend’s No. 1 film triggered the most ticket sales of a nonsequel, rocketing it to near the top on the list of all-time best openings.
Only last year’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2” and 2008 Batman sequel “The Dark Knight” were bigger box-office bonanzas out of the gate.
“This is totally unprecedented; this is a nonsequel so there was no track record going in,” said Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com.
Set in a futuristic America where kids are forced to compete on a life-or-death reality TV game show, the flick features actress Jennifer Lawrence as a bow-and-arrow-shooting heroine. It is based on the first novel in Suzanne Collins’ best-selling trilogy.
“There were no previous films to build up an audience, there was just the popularity of the book, the sheer power of the marketing and on top of that, it was a really good movie,” Dergarabedian said.
Even studio executives were stunned by how well the film’s weekend performance outdid their rosiest prognostications.
“When we went to bed Saturday night, we thought it would be $135 million to $140 million, just because the numbers usually drop by 45%-55% later in the weekend, but the numbers kept holding,” David Spitz, executive vice president of distribution at Lionsgate, told The Daily News. The picture trounced its weekend competition as the comedy “21 Jump Street” finished a distant second with $23.1 million, and the animated Dr. Seuss eco-fable “The Lorax” came in third with $13.1 million. “For us, it’s a game-changer,” Spitz said. Fans spilling out of cineplexes said the survival drama was worth the $13 ticket.
“It’s great to see a strong female lead character in an action movie,” said Jessica Lee, 32, after viewing the film Sunday at the AMC Loews on 42nd St. With Ole Skaar and Dennis Slattery