# The Hunger Games: Opening Weekend Predictions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 18, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hunger-games-opening-weekend-predictions/616114 "2012-03-18T05:03:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hunger-games-opening-weekend-predictions/616114/61 "2012-03-23T02:50:38Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > For comparables, the Harry Potter series has sold around 150,000,000 in the U.S. and Twilight has sold 100,000,000 in very round numbers. I don’t know if those comparisons are fair. For Harry Potter, that’s 7 books stretched over a period of what, 15 years? Which were no doubt helped by the success of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hunger-games-opening-weekend-predictions/616114/62 "2012-03-23T04:47:26Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I have met the author; she is very close friends with someone I work with. She and her family are incredibly low-key and down to earth; she _really_ did not want to go to the movie premier and would just as soon hide during opening weekend. Oh, and her kids haven’t read the books (or, at least, hadn’t when I was talking with them). I saw a feature about the opening on ABC’s _World News Now_. Apparently she has no interest in doing TV interviews, but they had a bit of interview footage that Scholastic produced, and appeared to be a study guide about the book, to get kids thinking critically. In the footage she asked “What is your relationship to reality TV versus your relationship to the news?” ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hunger-games-opening-weekend-predictions/616114/63 "2012-03-23T09:04:21Z")
We just got back home 25 minutes ago from the midnight showing. The movie theatre we went to had five screens, and they were all packed. I am really glad I read the books before I went; our daughter and I had some great conversations about the stuff they changed or left out. I thought the movie was well done. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hunger-games-opening-weekend-predictions/616114/64 "2012-03-23T12:19:55Z")
I’m going to guess that it makes something like $153 million over this weekend. It’s gearing up to be big. I’ve read the books and I’m interested in seeing it, however if I was just going off of the ads, I’m not so sure I would. The ads (at least that I’ve seen) seem fairly bland and don’t explain a lot. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hunger-games-opening-weekend-predictions/616114/65 "2012-03-25T03:51:41Z")
[Fifth biggest opening day ever; biggest for a non-sequel](http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3400&p=.htm) It’s already made more money than John Carter has made domestically, for a third of the budget. Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hunger-games-opening-weekend-predictions/616114/66 "2012-03-25T04:19:15Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > [Fifth biggest opening day ever; biggest for a non-sequel](http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3400&p=.htm) > > It’s already made more money than John Carter has made domestically, for a third of the budget. > Ouch. I read that Disney projects a $200 million loss on “John Carter”. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hunger-games-opening-weekend-predictions/616114/67 "2012-03-25T15:35:03Z")
[‘Hunger Games’ Devours the Box Office With $155M](http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/hunger-games-devours-box-office-155m-36517) > [@](#): > > “The Hunger Games” beat even the most optimistic box-office expectations in its debut weekend, grossing an estimated $155 domestically million and setting several records. > > Lionsgate’s movie opened bigger than any movie ever to open in the period between January and April. It is the biggest non-sequel opening ever and the third-biggest movie opening ever. > > The only films to gross more than “The Hunger Games” in their opening weekend are “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” and “The Dark Knight.” ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hunger-games-opening-weekend-predictions/616114/68 "2012-03-25T16:39:02Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Is anyone else uncomfortable with the fact that dystopic themes have become so prevalent in juvenile fiction? I loved this kind of stuff when I was in my early to mid-teens, although I don’t think any of it was YA fiction (_1984, Brave New World, Alas Babylon, The Sheep Look Up_, et cetera). I think it resonates with the dramatic adolescent worldview on some level, and any kid with any level of sophistication is going to be disturbed and fascinated by what they read about world events. My daughter likes these books, but I haven’t noticed that she’s become excessively freaked out or gloomy abut the world. What is it that makes you uncomfortable, exactly? Juvenile movie and books are loaded with dead parents, but I don’t see generations of kids freaked out that their parents are going to die. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hunger-games-opening-weekend-predictions/616114/69 "2012-03-25T16:46:24Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > [‘Hunger Games’ Devours the Box Office With $155M](http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/hunger-games-devours-box-office-155m-36517) Still just an estimate, as the Sunday box office numbers obviously aren’t in yet. Still, it pulled in nearly $120M on Friday and Saturday; I can’t help but wonder if their $36M estimate for Sunday box office isn’t pessimistic … ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hunger-games-opening-weekend-predictions/616114/70 "2012-03-25T16:58:37Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > I read that Disney projects a $200 million loss on “John Carter”. Maybe they should re-title it “Hunger To Make Our Money Back Game” and re-release it in a few months. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hunger-games-opening-weekend-predictions/616114.md?page=3)