The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has passed Iron Man 3 and became the most successful 2013 release at the US and Canadian box office with takings of almost $414 million.
According to online movie tracker Box Office Mojo, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has now taken almost $4 million more than Iron Man 3.
Iron Man 3 remains 2013’s biggest draw worldwide, making $1.2 billion.
It was also 2013’s biggest earner at the end of last year.
Hunger Games: Catching Fire becomes 2013’s most successful release
Since then, however, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has continued to pull in the punters and is now the most profitable film to be released in North America in 2013.
Not since 1968, when Funny Girl was the year’s top earner, has a female-led film topped the chart.
Jennifer Lawrence, who won a Golden Globe on Sunday for American Hustle, plays heroic teenager Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games films, based on Suzanne Collins’ dystopian sci-fi novels.
The first film in the series, released in 2012, made $408 million. The final part of the story, Mockingjay, has been split into two films that will be released in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
Catching Fire made almost $847 million worldwide.
The film was nominated for one Golden Globe at the weekend, for the song Atlas by Coldplay.
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Hunger Games: Catching Fire has topped the US box office for a second week, while Disney’s Frozen opening has come at number two.
According to early estimates, the Hunger Games sequel took $110.2 million while Frozen took $93 million.
That figure made Frozen the biggest Thanksgiving opening ever.
Catching Fire and Frozen both beat the Thanksgiving box office record of $82.4 million set by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in 2001.
Dave Hollis, Walt Disney executive vice president for distribution, said: “This was much more than we ever could have thought,” adding that it was the biggest-ever opening for one of its releases.
Disney’s Tangled opened during the Thanksgiving period in 2010, taking $68.7 million.
Frozen tells the story of a Scandinavian princess who tries to save her kingdom after the queen – her sister – accidentally uses her magic powers to freeze the country.
Disney’s action film Thor came in third with $15.5 million.
Hunger Games: Catching Fire has topped the US box office for a second week
Ensemble movie The Best Man Holiday took $11.1 million to claim fourth spot, while Homefront, written by Sylvester Stallone and starring Jason Statham, was the second highest new entry at five with $9.8 million.
But Spike Lee’s latest offering, Oldboy, failed to make a big dent on the chart, taking just $850,000.
Nelson Mandela biopic, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, took $100,306 – but that will be considered a solid return given it only opened in four cinemas in New York and Los Angeles.
The North American box office took $294 million in total, another record, just beating last year’s five-day Thanksgiving takings of $290 million.
North American box office Top 5:
1. Hunger Games: Catching Fire – $110.2 million
2. Frozen – $82.4 million
3. Thor: The Dark World – $15.5 million
4. The Best Man Holiday – $11.1 million
5. Homefront – $9.8 million
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Hunger Games: Catching Fire has topped the US box office chart this weekend with takings of $161 million.
The Hunger Games sequel narrowly failed to become the biggest opener of the year, falling short of Iron Man 3‘s debut of $174 million.
However, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, starring Jennifer Lawrence, did achieve the most successful November opening of all time.
Its performance dominated cinema-going in North America, with nearest rival Thor taking in a mere $14.1 million.
The only other new entry, Disney comedy Delivery Man, starring Vince Vaughn, had to settled for fourth place and box office returns of $8.2 million.
Catching Fire managed the fourth biggest US opening of all time, behind The Avengers, Iron Man 3 and Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part II.
More complicated box office marketing in recent years has boosted box office returns, with higher-priced Imax and 3D tickets and early Thursday night screenings being taken into account.
Catching Fire earned 8% of its first weekend takings from higher priced Imax tickets.
Hunger Games: Catching Fire has topped the US box office chart this weekend with takings of $161 million
The second outing of the Hunger Games franchise had a more lavish budget, outperforming the first film in its first week at cinemas, and appealing to a wider audience.
The first film, released last year, took $152 million in its opening weekend.
The latest film is based on Suzanne Collins’ trilogy of dystopian novels where young people fight one another to the death on live television.
North American box office Top 5:
1. Hunger Games: Catching Fire – $161 million
2. Thor: The Dark World – $14.1 million
3. The Best Man Holiday – $12.5 million
4. Delivery Man – $8.2 million
5. Free Birds – $5.3 million
Source: Hollywood.com
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