There was no doubt The Hunger Games was going to be big, the only question was how big. Many were surprised last week when tracking said the film could open as high as $130 million in the US, but in the end even that turned out to be too conservative, as it ended up taking $155 million in its first three days in North America.
That’s the third biggest three-day opening ever, behind the final Harry Potter movie and The Dark Knight. The film also had the fifth biggest opening day ever, taking $68 million on Friday, and perhaps most surprisingly, by Saturday it had already become Lionsgate’s highest grossing movie ever. Worldwide the film took $214 million, a particularly impressive figure considering Suzanne Collins’ books are barely known in many countries.
It’s a hugely impressive start and has stunned many who had assumed this sort of opening was impossible for a non-sequel, but the film film lit the imagine of young people, most particularly young women, who are becoming an increasingly important demographic, having been largely igrnoed by Hollywood for years.
The only other new entry in the US top 10 was October Baby, a film that’s aimed squarely at conservative Christian viewers and which has an anti-abortion message. It took $1.7 million to place eighth.
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of 23rd-25th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | The Hunger Games | $155.0 | $155.0 |
| 2 | 21 Jump Street | $21.3 | $71.0 |
| 3 | Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax | $13.1 | $177.3 |
| 4 | John Carter | $5.0 | $62.3 |
| 5 | Act Of Valor | $2.0 | $65.9 |
| 6 | Project X | $1.9 | $51.7 |
| 7 | A Thousand Words | $1.9 | $14.9 |
| 8 | October Baby | $1.7 | $1.7 |
| 9 | Safe House | $1.4 | $122.6 |
| 10 | Journey 2: The Mysterious Island | $1.3 | $97.1 |
Thanks to great reviews and strong word of mouth (as well as a lack of other major new openers), 21 Jump Street got off to a great start at the US box office with $35 million, which is one of the biggest openings ever for an R-rated comedy and Jonah Hill’s career best start.
With Disney having spent an estimated $250 million making John Carter, there’s been a lot of eyes on just how much it would make in its opening weekend. There’s no doubt there’ll be some disappointment today at Disney that it didn’t top the US box office in its first three days, which is partly down to a soft opening and partly due to The Lorax continuing to overperform.