Box Office Update: The World Is On "Fire"

The sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire based on author Suzanne Collins' second book in the series had a massive debut this weekend. In North America, Catching Fire scored the top November opening of all time...After this performance I am sure that the background  noise that Lionsgate and The Hunger Games Film Franchise star Jennifer Lawrence want Collins to pen another novel about Katniss will grow louder. Now it's on to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1/The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2.

 The Vince Vaughn comedy Delivery Man has a "respectable" debut...

Andrew Stewart of Variety:

Seizing the fourth-highest domestic opening of all time, Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” scored a whammo estimated $161.1 million in three-days, with $307.7 million worldwide from 65 territories, making it the 11th largest worldwide debut ever.

“Catching Fire” now has the largest domestic opening in November, as well as the biggest for Lionsgate. The sequel eclipsed its predecessor handily; that film made $146 million opening weekend in March 2011.

Playing second fiddle to “Catching Fire,” Disney-DreamWorks’ Vince Vaughn comedy “Delivery Man” delivered a modest-though-respectable $8.2 million Stateside debut.

“Catching Fire” stands behind “The Avengers,” which holds the all-time domestic opening record with $207 million, followed by “Iron Man 3,” with $174 million, and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2″ ($169 million).

The opening of “Catching Fire” is that much more impressive considering most observers expected the film to top out at around $140 million in three days, based on the Friday grosses. The film, however, saw a better-than-normal Friday-to-Saturday uptick (not including the Thursday night previews), up 16%.

“When you take a look at the blockbusters released around this time, the ‘Harry Potters’ and ‘Twilights,’ the one thing that is different with this film is our Saturday increase,” said Lionsgate distribution exec David Spitz. “To us, that is a direct illustration of how well the film is playing.”

In limited release, the Weinstein Co. released its Judi Dench weeper, “Philomena,” at four locations, where it averaged a strong $33,429 per screen. The film grossed a total estimated $133,716 domestically through Sunday.

On Wed: It's gonna be a cold Turkey Day this year as Disney's latest animated film Frozen arrives; It's James Franco VS. Jason Statham in the Sylvester Stallone written action thriller Homefront;  Spike Lee's remake of Chan-wook Park's 2003 cult classic "Old Boy" is out for revenge; Kasi Lemmons brings the musical Black Nativity to the big screen; The Nelson Mandela biopic--based upon his autobiography A Long Walk to Freedom opens Friday