At 9:15 a.m. on Sunday morning in a suburban mall, the mini-IMAX theater in the AMC multiplex showing “Hunger Games” was about two-thirds full.
That’s perhaps even more impressive than a sold-out midnight showing on opening day since the midnight premiere always attracts the most ardent fans (nearly $20 million in this case – $68 million overall on Friday alone, according to Hollywood.com Box Office). But 9:15 a.m. on a Sunday morning? Unless the movie is a kids movie like “The Lorax” or a Harry Potter movie, you will seldom see this movie theater this full at that hour on a Sunday.
It was indicative of the record-setting opening weekend of $152.5 million for Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games,” the biggest opening weekend ever for a non-sequel in domestic theaters, far surpassing the $116 mil. of “Alice in Wonderland.”
Another opening weekend record was set by the $10.6 million of the gross that came from 268 IMAX screens that offered no 3D like “John Carter” and no scenes shot with IMAX cameras as in “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.” IMAX audiences were treated only to the bigger and customized IMAX experience, which set records for a digital-only IMAX release and for a non-sequel 2D release.
Some IMAX theaters even added 3 a.m. showings to meet advance demand following sold-out midnight screenings on Thursday night/Friday morning, according to Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment.
“We are absolutely thrilled that so many fans saw The Hunger Games in the IMAX format,” said Lionsgate’s EVP of Distribution and General Sales Manager David Spitz. “The total immersion that IMAX offers surely augmented the gripping story and provided fans with a special way to experience this movie.”
“We believe the IMAX release of The Hunger Games’ helped broaden the audience beyond young females to include our core fanboy audience,” said Richard L. Gelfond, CEO of IMAX. “With sellouts all weekend and IMAX fans coming out in record numbers, these results clearly show that IMAX is a powerful way to eventize a movie.”
It was also the third biggest overall opening ever behind “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” ($169.2 mil.) and “The Dark Knight” ($158.4 mil.).
The female-skewing “Hunger Games” even surpasses the opening weekends of every “Twlight” movie, which were also based on a series of extremely popular books skewing primarily to females.
“Hunger Games,” very similar in the concept of government-managed violent competitions for peons to movies like “Rollerball,” and featuring reality show elements that harken back to movies such as “The Truman Show,” was easily accessible even for audiences who had not read any of the books, although a few character traits and situations were more clear for those familiar with the novels.
Meanwhile, Universal’s 3D “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax,” which had less than half that big of an opening weekend three weeks ago, picked up another $13.1 mil. this weekend, climbing past $177 overall in North America.
Two weekends ago IMAX 3D provided a whopping 17% contribution to Disney’s “John Carter” — $5 million from 289 North American IMAX theaters of that movie’s $30.6 domestic opening weekend (the movie grossed another $70.6 million overseas, for a global opening weekend total of $101.2 mil. before Disney announced a write-off on the $250 mil. production). Without IMAX, “John Carter” dropped even more dramatically in its third weekend to just $5 mil., for a total to date of $62.3 mil. in North America and $234.4 million globally.
— By Scott Hettrick