DHD Friday (03.23) 68.25 M | THE HUNGER GAMES (Crow-serving on-going :))

[iceroll]

And yet, that decades' old fan base never once translated to an opening anywhere near that of ST09.

For all intents and purposes, it was a dead property, thus making it a greater challenge to succeed.. THG is the exact opposite, and hefty marketing behind it as well. If anything, it had an easier chance at a big opening compared to ST.

Again, big isn't always "more impressive" to me. What matters is context, and both Blair and Borat literally shocked the industry with their openings. They were hard R flicks, the former with a shoestring budget, and they became phenomenons with their release. I think folks that weren't around or weren't following box office at the time of certain events like those tend to vastly undervalue important perspectives like that.

THG's opening doesn't make it a phenomenon -- it was already a phenomenon as a book series. It had brand recognition, just like Spider-Man, Potter, Twilight, etc. It didn't make $68 million because of the movie itself, it did so because of the popularity of the books.

No, the books had decent sales, but it was the movie's marketing and buzz that resulted in the great sales recently. The movie is about to open with about 2/3 the admissions of the sales of the entire trilogy. Clearly, a lot of people who are seeing this OW aren't book fans but just casual movie-goers who were interested in the movies. The movie made the books popular, not the other way around.

[theultimatebiu]

Social Media is irrelevant. Snakes on a Plane had WAY bigger social media hype...and what numbers did it post?Also HP1/sm1 was plastered EVERYWHERE it did not matter about if twitter/facebook was around it was on all major forms of communication/media.

[Biggestgeekever]

My problem is the hyperbole of fans (not saying you're in this group) to want to put gold medals on everything, for any franchise. My underlying point today has just been that we live in a different era now than we did in 2001 or even in 2005. Social media has dramatically changed the way our culture -- especially youth -- absorb any kind of entertainment content. Not just changed, but expedited. That's why I feel putting a label such as "most impressive ever" on THG's opening isn't anything more than over-excitement.In other words, think of it this way: how much bigger might the opening of Potter and/or Spider-Man have been in 2001/2002 had they received the full swath of a social media marketing campaign? We'll never know is the answer, which is an example of why I don't like the notion of calling *anything* "the most impressive ever" under virtually any metric.

I don't think that's at all fair to The Hunger Games, or hell, any opener that happens from now on. Yes, you have social media that helps spread hype, but you also have way more advanced ticket sale information and tracking data. How do you think Potter and Spider-Man would be tracking if they opened nowadays? We'd see them coming a mile away.And even with all that we have now, Hunger Games is outperforming even the wildest of expectations.

[MovieMan89]

This is so freakin amazing. If this beats TDK's OW it will absolutely be the most impressive opening since Spidey (sorry Shawn, I've seen your argument the past few pages and no dice).

[spizzer]

Adjusted Saturday holds for top Friday openers (adjusted for inflation and minus Friday midnights) Saturday numbers are in bold

SM1 - $53.1 million/$58.8 million (+34.6%)

SM3 - $54.1 million/$58.4 million (+8%)

TDK - $53.0 million/$52 million (-1.9%)

DMC - $56.0 million/$53.1 million (-4.8%)

TNM - $47.0 million/$43.5 million (-7.5%)

DH2 - $47.1 million/$41.8 million (-11.3%)

XM3 - $46.9 million/$38.25 million (-18.4%)

Edited March 24, 2012 by spizzer

[Shawn Robbins]

No, the books had decent sales, but it was the movie's marketing and buzz that resulted in the great sales recently. The movie is about to open with about 2/3 the admissions of the sales of the entire trilogy. Clearly, a lot of people who are seeing this OW aren't book fans but just casual movie-goers who were interested in the movies. The movie made the books popular, not the other way around.

That doesn't really add up. Without the books, there would be no fan base and no movie. I could see an argument where both fed each other's popularity, that would be a lot more reasonable.

[junkshop36]

Impressive. Most impressive

[Biggestgeekever]

X3's Saturday was so shit. I remember thinking it could top Spidey 1 and then.... *KERPLUNK*

[fmpro]

Adjusted Saturday holds for top Friday openers (adjusted for inflation and minus Friday midnights) Saturday numbers are in bold

Spider-Man - $53.1 million*/$58.8 million (+10.7%)

Spider-Man 3 - $54.1 million/$58.4 million (+8%)

The Dark Knight - $53 million/$52 million (-1.9%)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - $56 million/$53.1 million (-4.8%)

The Twilight Saga: New Moon - $47 million/$43.5 million (-7.5%)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II - $47.1 million/$41.8 million (-11.3%)

X-Men: The Last Stand - $46.9 million/$38.25 million (-18.4%)

I think a 3-5% drop could happen tomorrow..

But i hope for flat

[MovieMan89]

X3's Saturday was so shit. I remember thinking it could top Spidey 1 and then.... *KERPLUNK*

Unleash the WOM!!!

[TLK]

I think this movie is a marketing phenomena. They had a lot to work with in bestselling books but they got more out of it than Warner Brothers ever got out of Harry Potter.

[Shawn Robbins]

I don't think that's at all fair to The Hunger Games, or hell, any opener that happens from now on. Yes, you have social media that helps spread hype, but you also have way more advanced ticket sale information and tracking data. How do you think Potter and Spider-Man would be tracking if they opened nowadays? We'd see them coming a mile away.And even with all that we have now, Hunger Games is outperforming even the wildest of expectations.

Beating expectations is a little different from being the most impressive. You're on another subject now.

Social Media is irrelevant.

Only when its convenient to be, apparently. Edited March 24, 2012 by ShawnMR

[spizzer]

How do the book sales for this compare with Potter in and up to 2001? Twilight in and up to 2008?

[iceroll]

That doesn't really add up. Without the books, there would be no fan base and no movie. I could see an argument where both fed each other's popularity, that would be a lot more reasonable.

I'm not saying that the movie could have been successful without the books. I just think that it's wrong to say that the book series was a phenomenon by itself, and that's what propelled this movie to such a massive opening. A lot of people only started picking up the books after the movie was announced and the trailers and ads were released. The movie's opening success shouldn't be diminished because of the book's success because the books are only as successful as they are because of the movie.

[DAR]

For a film I thought that would open to only 100 million, this is quite impressive.

[iceroll]

How do the book sales for this compare with Potter in and up to 2001? Twilight in and up to 2008?

Twilight had around 18m for the quadrilogy a few weeks before the first movie's release I think.

[Chewy]

Social Media is irrelevant. Snakes on a Plane had WAY bigger social media hype...and what numbers did it post?

SOAP got social media hype in the same way Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is... people heard about it, looked it up, and laughed at itThat's different from actual interest in a property

[spizzer]

Twilight had around 18m for the quadrilogy a few weeks before the first movie's release I think.

Cool. And what is this at?

[TLK]

How do the book sales for this compare with Potter in and up to 2001? Twilight in and up to 2008?

They don't compare well at all with Harry Potter. Potter had already sold over 100 million books (on its way to 400+) worldwide before the movies were released.

[MovieMan89]

How do the book sales for this compare with Potter in and up to 2001? Twilight in and up to 2008?

Not even in the same realm as Potter in '01, and slightly better than Twilight in '08. So the fact that it's destroyed Sorcerer's Stone's adjusted OW without even having a fraction of the book sales that had back then shows how impressive this really is.