娱乐英语新闻:"The Hunger Games" continues to rule North America box office

LOS ANGELES, April 1 (Xinhua) -- "The Hunger Games" stayed atop the North America box office chart this weekend, garnering 61.1 million U.S. dollars in ticket receipts which successfully helped the latest Lionsgate actioner to fend off a pair of new films.

Widely regarded as the real first big blockbuster of the year, "The Hunger Games" saw its sales at 4,137 locations in the U.S. and Canada dropped by 60 percent, a dramatic slide for the independent filmmaking firm's tentpole film. However, the film continued drawing moviegoers including the Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his family to theaters across the region, thanks to its excellent word-of-mouth and aggressive marketing in the leadup to the March 23 release.

The Gary Ross film, which stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, is on track for 251 million dollars in ticket stubs during 10 days of exhibition.

A pair of films, Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures'3D action fantasy sequel "Wrath Of The Titans" and Relativity Media's Snow White comedy "Mirror Mirror," have failed to dethrone the Lionsgate blockbuster.

"Wrath Of The Titans," a sequel to the 2010 fantasy "Clash Of The Titans," settled for second place with 34.2 million dollars in projected ticket sales from 3,545 venues. This is a far cry from the Warner Bro. original's 61.2 million dollar opening weekend, although it is in line with the executives' expectations. The film stars Sam Worthington and Hollywood veteran actor Liam Neeson, and deals with how Perseus is called once again to rescue his father Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind.

"Mirror Mirror" is estimated to sell 19 million dollars worth of tickets in 3,603 theaters, finishing in third place. The film is directed by "Immortals" helmsman Tarsem Singh and stars Lily Collins and Academy Award winner Julia Roberts.

Both of the debuts received a "B+" CinemaScore while the film critics reviewed the films with mixed verdicts.

Rounding out the 10 most-popular films in North America this weekend were "21 Jump Street" (15 million dollars), "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" (8 million dollars), "John Carter" (2 million dollars), "Salmon Fishing In The Yemen" (debuting with 1.3 million dollars), "Act Of Valor" (1 million dollars), "A Thousand Words" (915,000 dollars), and "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" (835,000 dollars).