“Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is a terrific middle episode with a stunning cliffhanger ending that looks best on the giant IMAX screens where it generated more money than in any other theaters and surpassed “Skyfall” to set an IMAX record for a per-screen average over a three-day opening weekend.
Lionsgate’s “Catching Fire” enjoyed one of the biggest opening weekends of all time with $307.7 million worldwide and an estimated $161.125 mil. domestically.
IMAX reported today that eight of the ten top-performing theaters for “Catching Fire ” Nov. 22-24, 2013, were IMAX movie houses, where the film had a record-setting average of $36,300 in North American IMAX theaters. Overall, the film grossed approximately $18 million in IMAX theatres worldwide and $12.6 million in 347 IMAX theatres in North America.
After a lengthy transition showing Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and her fellow tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) struggling to adapt to their new positions as Victors of District 12, which they earned in the first film, the story puts them back in “the arena” to hunt and be hunted with fellow victors from all Districts, and that’s where IMAX really assists with the a dynamic visal spark. Director Francis Lawrence used IMAX’s extremely HiDef cameras to film the entire arena sequence, which results in a subtle yet subconsciously stunning elevation of audience engagement with the film as the frame expands vertically to fill the entire height of the giant screen.
“Catching Fire” led the entire IMAX network to its second best overall weekend ever with total worldwide grosses for IMAX reaching $25.7 million. Internationally, the film delivered a robust $5.4 million in multiple IMAX territories, including standout performances in the Netherlands ($73,000 per-screen average), Australia ($63,000) and the United Kingdom ($51,000).
“We’re excited that fans are seeking out the IMAX format in record numbers as the ideal way to experience The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” said Greg Foster, CEO of IMAX Entertainment and Senior Executive Vice President, IMAX Corp. “I want to congratulate and thank our partners – producers Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik, director Francis Lawrence, and Lionsgate – who realized the full potential of IMAX by using our capture technology… ”
— By Scott Hettrick