'Hunger Games' Rakes In $155 Million At Box Office

'Games' had third-highest opening ever, beating out all 'Twilight Saga' movie openings and every non-sequel ever made.
By Ryan J. Downey

Josh Hutcherson in "The Hunger Games"
Photo: Lionsgate

Much like Katniss Everdeen herself, "The Hunger Games"' aim was true. When it comes to box-office records, it's hard to keep a good book down.

"The Hunger Games" beat all of the "Twilight Saga" movies and every single non-sequel ever with the third-biggest opening weekend of all time. The big-screen adaptation of the first novel in the massively popular young adult trilogy collected $155 million domestically, a figure that was just $3.4 million less than "The Dark Knight" opening in 2008. ("Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" is still #1 with $169.1 million). Audiences gave the movie a CinemaScore of "A."

"The Hunger Games" collected an estimated $19.7 million in midnight screenings alone. Librarians, academics and bookworms of all stripes should note that all of the movies in the top five "all-time" list are based on some sort of printed source material. "Potter," "Dark Knight," "Hunger Games," "Spider-Man 3" ($151 million) and "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" ($142 million) were, of course, all drawn from either novels or long-running comic book characters. "The Hunger Games" made another $59.3 million overseas, which is about on par with the debuts of the opening installments in both the "Twilight" and "Harry Potter" franchises.

The next installment in author Suzanne Collins' trilogy, "Catching Fire," will see its film adaptation arrive in November of next year. But "Hunger Games" star Jennifer Lawrence will be back in theaters well before that. The 21-year-old Oscar nominee's new horror flick, "House at the End of the Street," is due September 21.

MTV News will exclusively unveil the full trailer for the movie online this Thursday morning. The latest from "Hush" director Mark Tonderai will see Lawrence in a role much different than skilled archer Katniss Everdeen, as she'll play a high school student who gets tangled up with a guy who has very dark secrets.

"The Hunger Games" had an 85 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes at press time, which is exactly the same as last weekend's #1 film, "21 Jump Street." The comedically driven movie version of the earnest late '80s TV drama about cops who went undercover in high schools was #2 this week with $21.3 million, for a total of $71 million. "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax," which enjoyed the eighth-highest debut for an animated movie earlier this month, was #3 with $13.1 million and a $177.3 million total.

"John Carter" was #4 with $5 million for a $62.3 million total, and "Act of Valor" rounded out the top five with $2 million for a $66 million total. Although those totals are similar, "John Carter" carried a reported production budget of $250 million while "Valor" was made for $12 million.

Check out everything we've got on "The Hunger Games."

For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

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