LOS ANGELES: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 tallied $123m in ticket sales to top weekend box office charts and score the year’s biggest US opening, according to studio estimates.
The third installment of Hunger Games action movie series starring Jennifer Lawrence added a further $152m at overseas box offices for a global opening weekend tally of $275m, tracking firm Rentrak said.
Mockingjay took in $17m at Thursday night showings for the year’s best Thursday total, but the film fell short of industry forecasts for about $148m through yesterday.
“This weekend will wind up down versus the same frame a year ago, when the previous Hunger Games installment Catching Fire led with $158.1m,” noted Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak.
The first Hunger Games took in $152.5m on its opening weekend in 2012, according to Boxofficemojo.
Walt Disney’s animated action film Big Hero 6 was second, with ticket sales of $20.1m, pushing its three-week total to $135.7m. Director Christopher Nolan’s space adventure Interstellar was third with $15.1m at US and Canadian box offices. It has taken in $120.6m since opening on November 5.
In Mockingjay, Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen, the defiant young archer who becomes the face of a mass rebellion in a dystopian post-apocalyptic society.
Lionsgate, the studio behind The Hunger Games series, split author Suzanne Collins’ final book in her science fiction trilogy into two movies, with the next set for release in 2015.
Last weekend’s top movie Dumb and Dumber To fell to fourth with $13.8m in ticket sales. Director David Fincher’s hit Gone Girl took in $2.8m to round out the top five.
Reuters
