As expected, the debut of “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” exploded at the box office.The final numbers are out today and the sci-fi adventure raked in $158. 1 million, to become the number one movie in the country this week. It was an incredible achievement — placing sixth on the list of the biggest movie openings ever.
The second installment is about a teenaged girl in postapocalyptic North America who is a winner in the brutal “Hunger Games,” but still must battle to stay a live during a victory tour. Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence stars along with Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth. The film is based on the second book of a young adult trilogy by Suzanne Collins.
In a distant second, “Thor: The Dark World” with $14.1 million, bringing its three-week domestic total to nearly $168 million. The urban romantic comedy, “The Best Man Holiday” took third with $12.4 million in its second week — for a total of $50.3 million. Not bad for a film with a modest budget of $17 million.
The new Vince Vaughn comedy, “Delivery Man,” struggled to find an audience and debuted with only $7.9 million. Rounding out the top five, the animation “Free Birds” with $5.3 million.
