'Hunger Games': birth of a franchise
Movie of the moment 鈥�The Hunger Games鈥� raked in a massive opening weekend gross of $155 million, making its opening weekend the third best ever and winning the title of best opening of all time for a non-sequel movie.
The only two movies to have had better opening weekends are the 2011 movie 鈥�Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 鈥� Part 2,鈥� which grossed $169.2 million, and the 2008 Batman film 鈥�The Dark Knight,鈥� which earned $158.4 million. But because 鈥淗arry鈥� and 鈥淜night鈥� are both sequels, 鈥淗unger Games鈥� now holds the record for best opening weekend for any film that is not a sequel.聽
The movie also earned $68 million on its opening day, which gives it the fifth-best opening day ever for a movie. The movie was also well-received by critics.
鈥淭his is the birth of a franchise,鈥� Lionsgate head of distribution David Spitz told the Seattle Times. 鈥淭o launch in this fashion is mindboggling.鈥�
鈥淐atching Fire,鈥� the next installment in the planned movie quartet, is due in 2013.
Molly Driscoll is a Monitor contributor.
