Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is building some major midweek box-office momentum going into the Thanksgiving weekend.
The Jennifer Lawrence sequel brought in a sizzling $15.9 million domestically for the ninth-best Tuesday haul ever, according to Box Office Mojo.
That upped the domestic total for “Catching Fire” after five days to $186 million. The original film, “The Hunger Games,” was at $173 million at the same point last year.
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“Catching Fire” took in $12 million Monday, following its $158 million three-day debut, the best opening weekend ever in November and the sixth-best in history.
Its opening trailed only “Marvel’s “The Avengers” ($207 million), “Iron Man 3” ($174 million), “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” ($169 million), “The Dark Knight Rises” ($160 million) and “The Dark Knight” ($158.4 million).
“Thor: The Dark World’ was a distant second with $1.9 million Tuesday, with the Vince Vaughn sperm donor comedy “Delivery Man” third with $1 million.
Also read: ‘Hunger Games: Catching Fire’: What’s Better for Lionsgate Than Box-Office Records? A Whole Lot
“Catching Fire” is the favorite to repeat as No. 1 over the holiday weekend, with some competition expected to come from the 3D Disney Animation family film “Frozen,” which opens Wednesday. Both films are expected to finish north of $70 million over the five days.
“Catching Fire” has taken in more than $348 million worldwide.
Josh Hutcheson and Liam Hemsworth also return from the first film. “Catching Fire’ is directed by Francis Lawrence (“I Am Legend”) who took the reins from Gary Ross. Simon Beaufoy and Michael deBruyn adapted the screenplay from the Suzanne Collins’ novel. Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik produced.