“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is proving the old adage “To the victor go the spoils” at the box office this weekend. The sequel chased down a huge $70.5 million on Friday — one of the biggest opening-day grosses of all time.
The film, which features Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, is on course to surpass the $152.5 million earned by the 2012 original in its opening weekend.
“Catching Fire” will also have no problem securing the top November opening of all time, inevitably crushing “The Twilight Saga: New Moon’s” $142.8 million debut.
The film, which also stars Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, has already picked up an additional $64 million overseas.
Meanwhile, the Marvel sequel “Thor: The Dark World” hammered out another $4 million for second place, bringing its domestic total to a strong $157.7 million.
At No. 3, “Best Man Holiday” scored another $3.8 million. It has so far grossed a big $41.6 million in North America. The comedy sequel was produced for just $17 million.
Opening in fourth place was the Vince Vaughn comedy “Delivery Man,” which managed to deliver just $2.7 million on Friday. It will likely earn around $8 million for the three-day, making it one of the worst-performing films in the comedy star’s career.
Rounding out the top 5 was the holdover comedy “Last Vegas,” which added $1.3 million to its winnings. It has earned $50.8 million so far.
Look for complete box office estimates for the weekend on Sunday.