The odds were definitely in the favor of The Hunger Games. I know some people scoffed at that tracking report that said The Hunger Games would make over $100 million, but damn. It made well over $100 million.

The opening weekend makes it the third largest of all time, just behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($169 million) and The Dark Knight ($158 million). It also makes the film the biggest opening of all time for a non-sequel. I can’t imagine what the next film, Catching Fire, is going to make, especially since the audience seems to be very happy with this one (unlike Twilight).

It also has the second biggest first Saturday ever, behind Spider-Man 3, which means that a variety of moviegoers are interested in the film and not just a small and vocal minority like the Twilight franchise. Also, Fandango sold 22% of the ticket sales. That’s the largest percentage Fandango has sold in their history.

The people at Lionsgate must be dancing non-stop today. The budget for this film was just about $80 million, which means they almost doubled their budget in two days. For comparison: John Carter has been out three weeks and hasn’t made back half its budget yet. [Box Office Mojo]

box office, the hunger games