The Hunger Games shrugged off newcomers American Reunion and James Cameron’s Titanic 3D to top the Friday box office for the third consecutive time.
Dropping a mere 31 percent from the previous Friday, The Hunger Games behind stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth added another $12.9 million to its growing pot. Through its first 15 days of release, The Hunger Games has accumulated a massive $282 million and should easily cross the $300 million mark either Sunday or, worst case scenario, on Monday. In doing so, the first film from author Suzanne Collins’ best-selling young adult book series will top the top grossing Twilight film, New Moon, which ended its theatrical run right at $300 million.
Against most any other film, American Reunion might be celebrating a first place start on Friday. But against The Hunger Games, a debut day of $9.2 million wasn’t quite enough to take first place. It’s also lower than any of the previous theatrically released films in the franchise, but should still cross the $20 million line through Sunday.
Titanic 3D sailed into third place on Friday with $7.1 million and, like American Reunion, should also cross $20 million. Including earnings from Wednesday and Thursday showings, the return of James Cameron’s box office gorilla has made $15.5 million already.
In fourth place was Wrath of the Titans with $5.4 million, enough to propel its gross total to $49.3 million. By comparison, Clash of the Titans had crossed the $90 million mark through the same number of days in release, which doesn’t bode well for the final Wrath number.
Mirror Mirror starring Julia Roberts closed out the top five with $4.6 million. It has now crossed $30 million and set a relatively low bar for Snow White and the Huntsman to beat in June.
Stop back tomorrow to see if The Hunger Games reached $30 million for the weekend and $300 million overall.
