The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 tallied $123 million in ticket sales to top weekend box office charts and score the year’s biggest U.S. opening, according to studio estimates.
The third installment of the blockbuster Hunger Games action movie series starring Jennifer Lawrence added a further $152 million at overseas box offices for a global opening weekend tally of $275 million, tracking firm Rentrak said.
Mockingjay took in $17 million at Thursday night showings for the year’s best Thursday total, but the film fell short of industry forecasts for about $148 million through Sunday.
“This weekend will wind up down versus the same frame a year ago, when the previous Hunger Games installment Catching Fireled” with $158.1 million,” noted Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at tracking firm Rentrak.
The first Hunger Games took in $152.5 million on its opening weekend in 2012, according to Boxofficemojo.
Walt Disney’s animated action film Big Hero 6 was second, with ticket sales of $20.1 million for the three days from Friday through Sunday, pushing its three-week total to $135.7 million.
In Mockingjay, Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen, the defiant young archer who becomes the face of a mass rebellion in a dystopian post-apocalyptic society.
