‘The Hunger Games’ has set midnight screening records, raking in $19.75 million at the box office from 2,565 locations, Deadline is reporting. The Lionsgate sci-fi film has become the all-time highest-grossing non-sequel midnight opener ever, and the seventh highest midnight grosser ever.
‘The Hunger Games’ is also the highest IMAX non-summer non-holiday 2D opener of all time, pulling in $1.3 million from 269 locations. The movie comes in only after ‘Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part One,’ which pulled in $1.4 million, and ‘Part Two,’ which earned $2 million.
With the current amount of tickets sold, ‘The Hunger Games’ may beat ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part One’s opening weekend gross of $138 million. Unlike ‘Twilight,’ ‘The Hunger Games’ is pulling in boys and girls, as well as adults, giving it the potential to earn more money.
With some theaters arranging to play ‘The Hunger Games’ continuously this weekend, the film will be the largest release in Lionsgate’s history. The film will have an opening weekend count in excess of 4,127 locations in the U.S. and Canada, against ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’s 4,468 theaters.
Fandango is currently selling 12 tickets per second for ‘The Hunger Games,’ which is 97% of online ticket sales today. More than 3,500 showtimes sold out on the ticketing website in advance of the release. It’s now the top selling franchise-opening sellers on Fandango, and the number three advance ticket seller of all-time, beating out ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’ and ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part One.’
Written by: Karen Benardello
