March 23-25, 2012 Box Office Results

Weekend of March 23-25, 2012

The Hunger Games – $125,000,000 estimate – My prediction: Over – $152,535,747 actual – Over

As many foresaw, The Hunger Games made well over $100 million, but I don't think people quite expected it to do this well. Only one brave soul did not predict Over for this film.

The Hunger Games reached the third all-time biggest opening weekend with its intake. Only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and The Dark Knight have it beat. Then again, those two films were released in over 200 more theatres than Hunger Games. IMAX sales helped a bit with the gross of the film, but it's the story itself that drew in the big crowds. Based on the best-selling young adult novels, the plot is more accessible to movie goers young and old, readers and non-readers, male and female. The majority of the audience were women at 61%, but it does not even come close to the 80% that Twilight draws in. It'll be interesting to see if The Dark Knight Rises will knock it down a notch in July.

Hunger Games also topped per theatre average, but The Raid: Redemption came out second with $15,270 in 14 theatres.

This weekend sees two major releases. The first is Mirror Mirror, one of the two Snow White-inspired feature films coming out this year. Mirror Mirror seems to be the one aiming more at families while Snow White and the Huntsman is more of an action fantasy. One of the things that Mirror Mirror has going for it is that it's directed by Tarsem Singh who made The Cell, The Fall, and Immortals. I think it's safe to say that the film should be at least visually appealing. The other film getting a major release this weekend is the sequel to Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the Titans. Directed by someone else and written by two other guys, this follow up is likely to fall short of the first film in terms of critical reaction. As far as limited releases go, there are a few. First is Bully, the documentary about bullying in school. I have screening tickets to see it tomorrow. Will review it here later. Goon is also getting a small release. That's the sports comedy one with Seann William Scott as a hockey player. There are a few other limited releases this weekend, even one involving sharks, but still not worth my time writing about right now.