Moviegoers
poured into North American multiplexes for the hotly anticipated
futuristic saga The Hunger Games which obliterated the competition with a
jaw-dropping $155M opening weekend shattering records in the process.
The PG-13 pic based on the wildly popular young adult novel about a
future where teenagers are forced by a totalitarian government to
compete in a fight to the death generated the third biggest opening
weekend of all-time and the best ever for both a non-sequel and for a
non-summer release. The only two bigger debuts were last summer's Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 with $169.2M including 3D
surcharges and 2008's The Dark Knight with $158.4M. Both of those were
released by Warner Bros. on the same mid-July weekend when all students
were out of school. Landing in 4,137 theaters, Games averaged a
scorching $37,467 per theater and was helped by 268 higher-priced IMAX
venues.
The previous record-holder for best non-summer opening was The Twilight
Saga: New Moon with $142.8M in November 2009. Johnny Depp's Alice in
Wonderland, a 3D pic, held both records for top March and non-sequel
debuts with $116.1M two years ago. Hunger Games easily smashed that
mark. And in just two days, the Katniss pic matched the top-grossing
film in Lionsgate history which was 2004's controversial documentary
Fahrenheit 9/11 with $119.2M. The Michael Moore film wasn't even
originally slated for release by the company as it was with Miramax and
Disney which the Weinstein brothers then had to bring over to Lionsgate
and IFC Films for the release.
Delivering this much business in the spring is nothing short of amazing.
The Hunger Games movie followed more than a year of build up with fans
getting hyped up for the movie event of the year thanks to all types of
carefully scheduled marketing. Lionsgate involved fans all along the way
and this weekend was the payoff. And it will be a lucrative film as the
production budget was only about $75M while the total domestic
marketing tab was roughly $45M which is low for a tentpole by big studio
standards, but high for Lionsgate which usually involves itself with
moderately-budgeted films. Although it is too early to really tell, the
odds of cracking the $300M domestic mark are certainly in its favor.
Critics and audiences both gave great marks to Hunger. Reviews were
mostly positive and the CinemaScore grade was a solid A. Even though
films based on popular book franchises like this tend to drop heavy,
this one may hold up well for a gargantuan of its kind. Part of the
reason Hunger was able to open better than every Twilight film was that
it had more male appeal. Studio research showed that 61% of the crowd
was female as opposed to the 80% seen by the Bella Swan chapters. The
male share was twice as big. Those over 25 made up 56% of the audience
so a broad age range was reached. A red hot 2012 box office also
contributed as people were seeing trailers, posters and standees in
theaters over the past couple of months boosting awareness and
excitement and the momentum certainly helped this weekend surge with all
audience segments.
The historic debut started off with $68M on Friday including $19.7M from
Thursday's post-midnight shows. That was the fifth best opening day and
seventh highest midnights ever with only Harry Potter and Twilight
sequels ranking higher. Obsessed book fans have intense demand to see
film adaptations upfront and at the earliest possible show but often
also see them again before the weekend is over. Saturday fell by 25% to
$51M while Sunday is estimated to slide by 29% to $36M. Final grosses to
be reported on Monday will show how close it comes to the estimate. At
this dizzying height there is sure to be some change in the final gross.
Being a global phenomenon, The Hunger Games also saw impressive results
overseas this weekend although the figures were not as eye-popping as
they were in the U.S. The overseas launch in 67 markets delivered an
estimated $59.3M for a worldwide opening weekend of $214.3M. Leading the
way was Australia with $9.7M, the United Kingdom with $7.5M, and Russia
with $6.5M.
The next film in the franchise, Catching Fire, will reunite the cast and
director Gary Ross and is currently slated for release on November 22
of next year in a slot that worked wonders for many of the Twilight and
Potter films being a week before the busy Thanksgiving holiday.
Despite the arrival of the new juggernaut, last week's top film 21 Jump
Street held up remarkably well dipping only 41% to an estimated $21.3M
even though much of its young adult audience overlaps with Hunger Games.
There were no other major comedies in the marketplace and strong
word-of-mouth had been spreading all week. The Sony remake has taken in a
terrific $71.1M in just ten days and could be headed for $120-130M
which would be rock solid for a film that cost $42M to produce. Street
has collected $16M from 14 international territories with Australia and
the U.K. accounting for most of the total thanks to strong legs in each
market.
Universal's popular Dr. Seuss toon The Lorax fared well by playing to
kids too young for a fight-to-the-death flick. The 3D pic collected an
estimated $13.1M in its fourth frame, off just 42%, boosting the 24-day
cume to a robust $177.3M. Lorax still stands as 2012's top-grossing
domestic movie but will be shoved aside within days by Hunger Games.
International markets have contributed $21.3M early in the overseas run
for a worldwide take of $198.6M so far. Most major countries will open
the film right before Easter school holidays.
Continuing its financial collapse, the sci-fi epic John Carter tumbled
63% in its third outing suffering the worst drop for any film in the top
ten. Disney has grossed just $62.3M in 17 days domestically with the
Mars flick and should end with only $70M or so. Grosses are higher
overseas, but still not good enough to justify its enormous production
cost of more than $250M. The overseas take this weekend fell 46% to
$22.2M boosting the international total to $172.1M, or 73% of the
$234.4M worldwide tally. Although Japan's debut is still ahead, the
final global gross does not seem likely to go too much higher than $300M
with Disney only getting a part of that amount back into its hands -
not nearly enough to cover production and marketing costs.
The rest of the films in the top ten carved out very slim slices of the
box office pie. The military actioner Act of Valor dropped 45% to an
estimated $2.1M for a $65.9M cume for Relativity. The low-budget Warner
Bros. hit Project X followed with an estimated $2M, off 52%, and a
$51.8M total. The Eddie Murphy flop A Thousand Words laughed up an
estimated $1.9M after declining by 47%. Paramount's modest collection
stands at just $14.9M.
The new faith-based drama October Baby landed in the top ten thanks in
part to competing films generating such low grosses this weekend. The
PG-13 tale of a young woman trying to find the birth mother who almost
aborted her bowed to an estimated $1.7M from 390 theaters for a
lackluster $4,405 average. On any other weekend this year, the gross
would not have been enough to crack the top ten.
A pair of big grossers from February rounded out the top ten. The Denzel
Washington hit Safe House fell 49% to an estimated $1.4M while the
Warner Bros. adventure sequel Journey 2: The Mysterious Island featuring
Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson took in the same amount after
dropping 43%. Cumes are $122.6M and $97.2M, respectively.
The critically acclaimed Indonesian action film The Raid: Redemption
locked up a strong debut in limited release with an estimated $221,000
from only 14 theaters for a $15,786 average. Sony Classics will expand
the brutally violent cop film each Friday over the next three weeks
which will take it into nationwide play by mid-April. The aggressive
release should help build a new movie brand as Sony corporate cousin
Screen Gems will be producing the American remake.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $204.8M which was up a whopping
96% from last year when Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules opened in
the top spot with $23.8M; and up a staggering 81% from 2010 when How To
Train Your Dragon debuted at number one with $43.7M.
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