I have to give credit to Lionsgate, they built up anticipation for The Hunger Games like absolute pros and now the film has broken the midnight opening box-office record for a non-sequel with $19.75 million from 2,565 locations. Comparatively, The Dark Knight made $18.5 million at midnight back in 2008, which to me only speaks to how much The Dark Knight Rises will make this summer.
The Dark Knight went on to pull in $158.4 million following its opening, which means The Hunger Games is on track to bring in some serious dough.
In terms of midnight records, the current #1 is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which brought in $43.5 million from midnight shows, which, at the time, shattered the previous record of $30 million set by The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which was then virtually matched by The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 last year.
After that massive opening, Deathly Hallows went on to make $169.1 million in its opening weekend, which tells me The Hunger Games should be looking at anything from a $150-$160 million opening.
Care to take a guess at how high you think it will go?
