The Hunger Games Grosses Over $68 Million Its Opening Day

The numbers are out! The Hunger Games has grossed over $68 million domestically its opening day!

The feast is on: “The Hunger Games” has taken in $68.25 million domestically in its first day, a record for a non-sequel.

The Friday total for Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games” was the fifth-best opening day ever and puts the movie on track for the best debut weekend ever in March. That record is held by “Alice in Wonderland” with $116.1 million.

The big start should translate into an opening weekend of as much as $140 million domestically, according to Paul Dergarabedian, analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. 

That makes The Hunger Games #5 in opening day sales, and if you notice those other movies are SEQUELS, which makes THG #1 in opening day sales for NON-SEQUELS!

The weekend isn't over yet, so we're expecting more records broken! This is beyond amazing for Lionsgate and The Hunger Games, as it ensure that this movie is a hit and is good news for the future of this franchise.

Source: Box Office Mojo, Washington Post

The Hunger Games Pre-Sale Tickets Reach Over 1 Million

Say what now?

According to Deadline, The Hunger Games has pre-sold over 1 million tickets!

Crazy speculation that Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games could gross $125 million its opening 3-day weekend beginning this Friday is more and more looking like reality. Even inside-the-studio estimates have cautiously been raised from $75M to $95+M. Already, the hotly anticipated film has pre-sold over a whopping 1 million tickets on big online sellers Fandango and Movietickets.com combined. Yesterday, the pic sold 83,000 tickets alone on Fandango. This movie based on the bestselling trilogy of novels by Suzanne Collins has turnedTwilight-like huge for Lionsgate which was badly in need of a franchise. But unlike Twilight which attracted predominantly a female audience, The Hunger Games could attract younger males as well as younger and older females. Exactly how much the studio can gross for the first weekend depends on how many screenings each theater can pack into 72 hours by finding enough staff willing to work the extra hours and keep the pic running continuously. Tracking continues to amaze Hollywood which knows a blockbuster like this is great for the industry.

This is incredible news for the movie and future of the franchise!

Fandango: Ticket Sales Update PLUS Theatres Adding More Midnight Showings!

Sorry we got a little behind on our postings, but here's a cool update on how ticket sales are going on Fandango's end.

“HUNGER GAMES” SELLS OUT 1,000 SHOWTIMES ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE OF MARCH 23 RELEASE DATE, OVERTAKING “TWILIGHT” IN FANDANGO’S ADVANCE TICKET SALES

Los Angeles – March 15, 2012) One week from tonight, millions of moviegoers across the country will be entering the arena of “The Hunger Games” as the movie debuts in theaters at 12:01 a.m. on March 23.

More than a thousand showtimes are already sold out across the country, from New York to San Francisco, from Maine to Hawaii. Theater owners are adding additional showtimes -- some as late as 3:00 a.m. on Friday morning -- to meet the demand for tickets, available at http://www.fandango.com/thehungergames/movieguide.  The film’s advance ticket sales have already surpassed those of the first “Twilight” movie at the same point in that film’s sales cycle.

“It's our fastest-selling franchise-opener since ‘Twilight’," says Rick Butler, general manager and executive vice president of Fandango. "The brisk advance ticket sales are a testament to the strength of the incredible marketing campaign which has clearly resonated with fans and even those unfamiliar with the books."

"Hunger Games" currently represents 71% of today’s ticket sales on Fandango. Here are a few more statistics from an online survey of several thousand “Hunger Games” moviegoers conducted on Fandango:

• 72% say the intriguing premise and action is what attracts them most to  "Hunger Games”; only 18% picked the love story as the main attraction;

• 57% are planning to see the movie with a group of friends;

• 46% of respondents are 25 or older; 54% are younger than 25.