'Hunger Games' sets records

Only "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" and "The Dark Knight" -- both sequels-- recorded bigger opening weekends than "Hunger Games."

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The movie sets a record for the biggest March opening ever


• The only two films with bigger opening weekends were both sequels


• "The Hunger Games" is based on the first book in a young-adult trilogy


• The sequel, "Catching Fire," will be released in November 2013

(Entertainment News) -- The appetite for "The Hunger Games" was even more voracious than experts predicted.

The Lionsgate movie based on the best-selling young-adult novel raked in an estimated $ 155 million in its opening weekend, according to the studio, giving it the third-best debut in North American box office history.

Only "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" and "The Dark Knight" -- both sequels, with the strength of a franchise behind each -- recorded bigger opening weekends.

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The massive total for "Hunger Games" more than doubles the opening weekend of the first film in the "Twilight" franchise, another set of films that sprang from a young-adult series.

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth star in the dystopian fantasy, based on the first book in the Suzanne Collins trilogy about a future society in which teenagers are forced to battle to the death.

The $ 155 million estimate was reported by Exhibitor Relations Co., which compiles the box office totals tallied by studios. Final weekend numbers will be available Monday.

Experts had initially projected a $ 100 million opening for "Hunger Games," then revised their guesses as high as $ 140 million as fan fever soared, fueled by the books' success and a canny marketing campaign.

The weekend's $ 155 million easily gives "The Hunger Games" the record for the biggest March opening ever, besting the $ 116 million debut of "Alice in Wonderland" in 2010, and shows a blockbuster release is not limited to the summer and holiday seasons, as long presumed.

"Hunger Games" is already the highest-grossing movie in the history of Lionsgate, which has announced the sequel, "Catching Fire," will be released November 22, 2013.