The box office numbers have been tallied for The Hunger Games‘ midnight showings — and although they weren’t quite good enough to set all-time records, Lionsgate should be very pleased.
Hollywood.com Box Office Analyst Paul Dergarabedian is reporting that the highly anticipated adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ bestselling novel raked in $19.735 million from midnight screenings, making it the seventh-best midnight bow ever. Ahead of Games are behemoths like 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (No. 1) and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (No. 2).
The late-night opening of Hunger Games — which is obviously all but a shoo-in to make the most money at this weekend’s overall box office, with estimates currently around $125 million (that would rank as the best March opening ever) — was good enough for a pair of records: highest non-sequel midnight opening of all time and highest IMAX non-summer, non-holiday, 2D opening of all time, according to Dergarabedian.
