娱乐英语新闻:"The Hunger Games" posts 3rd highest opening in Hollywood history

LOS ANGELES, March 25 (Xinhua) -- "The Hunger Games" rose to the top of the North America box office with a jaw-dropping 155 million U.S. dollar opening weekend, the third highest in the Hollywood history, as expectant young moviegoers swarmed theaters in the U. S. and Canada to get a glimpse of the widely buzzed flick.

The Liongsgate sci-fi action/drama film joins "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" (169.1 million dollars) and "The Dark Knight Rises" (158.4 million dollars) as one of the highest opening films in the movie industry history. The film, based on a 2008 best-selling young-adult novel by Suzanne Collins about a group of 24 children, aged 12-18, who fought to the death during a government-sponsored survival contest in the dystopian future, also posted highest opening for a non-sequel film of all time.

As Liongate's highest opening film so far, "The Hunger Games" also eclipsed every installment of the hit "Twilight" franchise including the series' biggest opening film, "New Moon," which took in 142.8 million dollars in sold movie stubs when it hit the screen in November 2009. It also best "Alice in Wonderland" (116 million dollars) to claim the best March opening of all time. Sixty-one percent of those who have seen the film was female and 44 percent was under 25 years old. Those who have seen the movie liked it and gave it an average CinemaScore grade of "A."

"The Hunger Games" raked in 68.5 million dollars in ticket sales from 4,137 locations when it debuted on Friday as teens lined up outside theaters across North America for midnight screenings while strong word-of-mouth was building.

Academy Award nominee Jennifer Lawrence, 21, plays the lead role, Katniss Everdeen, a girl who joins the gladiator-like tournament in a bid to save her community. The drama is the first installment of "The Hunger Games" trilogy which Lioinsgate plans to produce. The second film, "Catching Fire," is slated to hit the screen in November 2013.

"21 Jump Street," an R-rated Sony/Columbia actioner and comedy premiered as the No.1 film last weekend, is No. 2 this weekend, garnering 21.3 million dollars. It is on track for a 71 million projected take over 10 days. At No. 3 is "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax," Universal's computer animated blockbuster, which is projected to take in 13.1 million dollars for a 177.3 million dollar four-week total.

Rounding out the 10 most-popular movies in North America this weekend were "John Carter" (5 million dollars), "Act of Valor" (2. 1 million dollars), "Project X" (2 million dollars), "A Thousand Words" (1.9 million dollars), "October Baby"(premiering at 1.7 million dollars),"Safe House" (1.4 million dollars), and "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" (1.4 million dollars).