HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE CATCHES FIRE, SETS RECORD

We have another record. Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games Catching Fire has become the biggest November opener ever domestically with an estimated $161.13 million in ticket sales, coming in right on target (no pun intended). Most analysts had predicted an opening in the $150-170-million range, although a few had hesitantly advanced the possibility of its earning as much as $180 million. The original Hunger Games opened last year with $152 million. Only one other film has had a bigger opening in 2013 — Iron Man 3, which amassed an astounding $174 million when it premiered in May. Lionsgate also opened the film in 63 markets overseas, where it earned an additional $146 million, giving it a worldwide total of $307 million. The film hammered Thor: The Dark World, which had held the top spot in North America for the past two weeks. The Disney/Marvel film finished the weekend in second place with about $14 million. Pounded even harder was the opening of DreamWorks/Disney’s comedy Delivery Man, which flopped with just $8 million.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Rentrak: 1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, $161.13 million; 2. Thor: The Dark World, $14.12 million; 3. The Best Man Holiday, $12.52 million; 4. Delivery Man, $8.22 million; 5. Free Birds, $5.30 million; 6. Last Vegas, $4.40 million; 7. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, $3.45 million; 8. Gravity, $3.31 million; 9. 12 Years a Slave, $2.80 million; 10. Dallas Buyers Club, $2.77 million.