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Sunday, March 25, 2012

Hunger Games takes record $68.3m on opening

Eagerly awaited sci fi adventure The Hunger Games posted the fifth-best opening day ever with a staggering $68.3 - a new record for a non-sequel.
 The massive takings included $19.7m from midnight showings as queuing fans scrambled for seats. The movie easily surpassed the previous opening-day record for a non-sequel which was 2010′s Alice in Wonderland with $40.8 million. Scroll down for trailer Fans line up to see the midnight shows of 'The Hunger Games' in New York, the movie took $19.7m from the late night showings alone Fans line up to see the midnight shows of 'The Hunger Games' in New York, the movie took $19.7m from the late night showings alone
 The big start should translate into an opening weekend of as much as $140m domestically, according to Paul Dergarabedian, analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. First-day revenues for 'The Hunger Games' were well behind the record $91.1 million for last summer's 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.'

But 'The Hunger Games' came within a few million dollars of each of the last three 'Twilight' movies, whose opening days ranged from $68.5 million to $72.7 million. The PG film stars Jennifer Lawrence as a teen forced to compete in a televised death match against other youths in a future North American society where a privileged capital city oppresses the people of 12 outlying worker districts.


It is based on the first book in a best-selling trilogy by author Suzanne Collins. The movie, which scored a firm 'A' rating from CinemaScore audiences, has had a stronger start than such blockbusters as The Dark Knight and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen according to Entertainment Weekly. As for the rest of the box office, last week’s front runner 21 Jump Street dropped 53 percent for $6.3 million on Friday. It was followed by Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax which also dropped 53 percent to take $3.2 million. John Carter came in third taking $1.4m, with Project X only just making the top five with $625,000 on Friday.

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