Audiences’ ‘Hunger’ is beginning to be quenched.
The Gary Ross adaptation of Suzanne Collins novel debuted at Midnight this morning to a whopping $19.7 million at the box office. Pre-polling and Friday matinees indicate “Hunger Games” should finish somewhere between $135-140 million for a staggering franchise debut.
That makes “The Hunger Games” one of the top 10 Midnight openers of all time placing no. 7 just ahead of “The Dark Knight” which found $18.5 million in 2008. That also puts it behind “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’s” $22.3 million at no. 6. “Twilight” fans can also take solace that The last three films in that teen-fueled franchise, “New Moon,” “Eclipse” and “Breaking Dawn, Pt. 1” all had larger Midnights and rank 2nd, 3rd and 4th on the all-time list. What’s truly noteworthy, however, is “Hunger Games” is the largest non-sequel debut on the midnight list a triumph that should place it in the top 10 all-time weekend debuts as well.
“The Hunger Games” is also benefiting from strong reviews. It has an impressive 68 on Metacritic (with just one negative review out of 36) and a strong 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. A sequel, “Catching Fire,” is already scheduled for Nov. 22, 2013.
Look for continuing box office updates all weekend long on HitFix.
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