'Catching Fire' Incinerates Box Office

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'Catching Fire' Incinerates Box Office

As expected, the highly anticipated The Hunger Games: Catching Fire obliterated the box office in its opening weekend, setting a record in the process.

The action-packed sequel, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth and Elizabeth Banks, speared an estimated $161.1 million domestic over the weekend, nearly tripling the collective total of the remainder of the box office Top 10.


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With its colossal opening, Catching Fire also had the largest adjusted-gross November opening and largest adjusted-gross holiday opening in box-office history. The Twilight Saga: New Moon previously held both records.

Finishing a very distant second was the superhero sequel Thor: The Dark World, starring Liam Hemsworth's older brother Chris, which reaped $14.1 million for its third week of release to bring its domestic total up to $167.8 million.

On the heels of Thor once again was the sequel The Best Man Holiday, which collected $12.5 million over the weekend. The reunion comedy has now amassed $50.4 million in two weeks of release.

Trailing in fourth was the Vince Vaughn comedy Delivery Man, which pulled together $8.2 million in its opening weekend as fellow opener Catching Fire scorched through the competition.

Continuing their similar box-office runs were the comedies Free Birds (5th: $5.3 million, $48.6 million) and Last Vegas (6th: $4.4 million, $54 million), which swapped places for their fourth weekend in theaters.

As Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (7th: $3.5 million, $95.5 million) infringed upon $100 million domestic, Captain Phillips (12th: $1.8 million, $100.7 million) entered nine-digit territory despite falling out the Top 10 for the first time in its seven-week run.

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After eight weeks in theaters, Gravity (8th: $3.3 million, $245.5 million) continued to attract a stream of moviegoers. The space thriller, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, has now pulled in $577 million worldwide.

The awards-buzzing films 12 Years a Slave (9th: $2.8 million, $29.4 million) and Dallas Buyers Club ($2.8 million, $6.5 million) rounded off this weekend's Top 10.

Which film did you see this weekend?