Hunger Games Box Office: A Look Back
MyHungerGames editor and film enthusiast, Hamilton, once again talks Hunger Games with our friends over at NECA. This time he takes a look at where the box office stands, now that the film is winding down in theaters, all the accomplishments it has made along the way, and what the future holds.
With an opening weekend goal initially set at around $70 million by studio Lionsgate, the hype quickly built to such a point that experts continually revised their predictions to higher and higher numbers. As March 23 loomed ahead just around the corner, many experts were predicting numbers as high as $140 million and some even speculated that it could surpass Twilight: New Moon’s $142.8 million – something that seemed highly implausible given that those types of numbers are usually reserved for sequels. A new franchise could never pull that off was what most people seemed to be saying.
Midnight, March 23, 2012 silenced the naysayers and proved that The Hunger Games was going to be something extra special. With just shy of $20 million, it ranked as the 7th best midnight opening ever, and the only non-sequel to even be in the top ten.
As the weekend went on, the Hunger Games set fire to the box office, leaving the competition far, far behind. When the dust settled, it had amassed an incredible $152.5 million – smashing all expectations and more than doubling Lionsgate’s original goal. The opening weekend alone, in fact, made it far and away Lionsgate’s most financially successful film in their history.
The following weeks proved that it wasn’t a fan-driven front-loaded fad either – The Hunger Games was all anyone seemed to be talking about and the box office numbers reflected that. Currently, as its domestic run nears an end, it has a total of just under $396 million. Depending on how much longer it stays in theaters, it could, in theory, inch its way to a final number of over $400 million and possibly even sneak by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (402.1) and Spiderman (403.7) to gain a couple places on the all time chart.
Check out the rest of the article for more details on the accomplishments The Hunger Games has made and why he thinks the worldwide numbers could rocket upwards very soon!
