Weekend B-O Odds in Hunger Games' Favour

MARCH 26, 2012 - The odds were definitely in The Hunger Games favour this weekend: the big screen adaptation of the immensely popular young adult novel opened to an enormous estimated US$155 million, which ranks third all-time behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (US$169.2 million) and The Dark Knight (US$158.4 million).

Remarkably, it opened above all of the Twilight movies, and it also topped Alice in Wonderland (US$116.1 million) for highest debut ever for a non-sequel. While a majority of the audience for The Hunger Games were women (61 percent), the fact that it did have some appeal to men as well surely helped it get as high as it did. In comparison, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1's crowd was 80 percent female. The Hunger Games audience also skewed slightly older (56 percent were 25 years of age and up).

On 268 IMAX screens, The Hunger Games grossed an estimated US$10.6 million this weekend. That's roughly US$40,000 per screen, which is a very impressive figure for a 2D movie that doesn't include any footage shot in IMAX.

This may have been the weekend where John Carter officially transitioned from domestic disappointment to disaster. The movie plummeted 63 percent to just over US$5 million, bringing its 17-day total to just US$62.3 million (or less than The Hunger Games made on opening day). It is playing better overseas, but it's still not at the levels needed to really ease the pain over at the Mouse House.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for March 23-25, 2012 weekend, in terms of rank, (previous week ranking), Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo. (US$1=RM3)

1. (-) The Hunger Games (LGF) $155.0 million ($155.0 million) 1

2. (1) 21 Jump Street (Sony) $21.3 million ($71.0 million) 2

3. (2) Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (Universal) $13.1 million ($177.3 million) 4

4. (3) John Carter (BV) $5.0 million ($62.3 million) 3

5. (5) Act of Valor (Rela.) $2.0 million ($65.9 million) 5