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Box Office: 'The Hunger Games' no. 1 again with $251 million in just 10 days

'Clash of the Titans' OK as 'Mirror, Mirror' disappoints

<p>Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Evergreen in &quot;The Hunger Games.&quot;</p>

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Evergreen in "The Hunger Games."

Credit: Lionsgate

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"Hunger Games" is making history.  The Lionsgate adaptation of Suzanne Collins' novel has expanded beyond the franchise's core young adult base as it grossed an estimated $61.1 million over its second weekend for a startling $251 million in just 10 days. 

For comparison sake, the only three films who have grossed more in that time frame are "The  Dark Knight" ($313 million), "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2" ($273.5 million), "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" ($269 million) and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" ($258.3 million).   Notably, all films were released in the lucrative summer season so for "Hunger Games" to do accomplish this feat in March is nothing more than jaw dropping for most Hollywood executives.  The film has clearly become a phenomenon and a final domestic gross of $330-350 million certainly is within reach.

Debuting in second place a little under pre-release polling was Warner Bros.' "Wrath of the Titans."  The sequel to 2010's "Clash of the Titans" found $34.2 million, a littler more than half  of its predecessors opening gross.  WB will no doubt hope to make more of a dent on the international market where the first "Titans" made $330 million.

The third slot went to Relativity's "Mirror, Mirror" which turned out not to be the fairest of them all.  Director Tarsem Singh's take on the Snow White fable grossed just $19.0 million which was under the film's $23-25 million pre-release estimate.  With a reportedly $80 million price tag, "Mirror" is also going to have to hope the global marketplace can help the fantasy flick break even.

The only intentional comedy still in theaters currently is "21 Jump Street" and the Sony Pictures release came in fourth with another $15 million.  With $93.1 million to date, "Jump Street" should easily surpass $100 million and a sequel is already on the horizon.

Universal Pictures' own spring hit, "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax," grossed another $8 million for $189.6 million to date.  It should end up somewhere past $200 million and, for comparison's sake, likely finish ahead of Oscar winner "Ratatouille's" $206.4 million.

In limited release, the documentary "Bully" grossed a stellar $115,000 in just five theaters for an impressive $23,000 average.  It will continue to expand across the country in the weeks to come.

Both "Jeff Who Lives At Home" and "Salmon Fishing In The Yemen" expanded to over 400 theaters this weekend.  "Home" found  $675,000 for $2.6 million so far while "Salmon" turned out to be the better catch as it crashed the top 10 with a tasty $1.2 million and $3.1 million to date.

Next weekend's major new release is "American Reunion." "Titanic 3D" will debut on Wednesday.

Final box office results are released on Monday.
 

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Gregory Ellwood
Editor-in-Chief, Co-Founder
With over a decade of experience in the movie industry, Ellwood survived working for two major studios and has written for Variety, MSN and the LA Times. A co-founder of HitFix, Ellwood spends his time relaxing hitting 3’s on the basketball court and following his beloved Clippers.

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  • Default-avatar

    cannotcount

    Is it just me or did you list 4 films after 'the only three films...'

    April 1, 2012 at 12:53PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      Dave it's not just you. Step it up Gregory, you make these kind of silly mistakes in almost all of your articles.

      April 1, 2012 at 2:22PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    CaptainCanada

    Looking the domestic v. foreign totals, I expect the marketing for the sequel will be focused on getting the property more exposure in non-North American markets. It's doing good business overseas, but it's clearly not nearly as familiar there as here.

    April 1, 2012 at 1:06PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    ed w

    And all four other films were sequels. None were the first installment, which seems worth noting.

    April 1, 2012 at 9:05PM EST Reply to Comment

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