‘Hunger Games’ tops charts

compiled by Reuters.
The ongoing appetite for Hunger Games left three newcomers trailing.
“The Three Stooges”, featuring an updated cast of finger-poking stars, beat industry expectations to land in second place.
The horror film “The Cabin in the Woods” finished third.
The last movie to win four straight weekends was “Avatar”, the highest-grossing film of all time, according to Hollywood.com.
That film, released by Fox, went on to generate US$760 million in domestic sales.
Since “Hunger Games” hit theatres on March 23, the movie has raked in US$337 million in North American (US and Canadian) ticket sales.
That places it 22nd all-time in ticket sales, just behind Walt Disney’s “Finding Nemo”, according to the site Box Office Mojo.
The film has also added US$194 million from international markets, according to Lions Gate, for a global total of US$531 million.
“There’s nothing old about finishing number one,” said Richie Fay, Lions Gate president of distribution.
“We’re just happy to be able to look over our shoulders and see how well we’ve done.”
Horror movie “The Cabin in the Woods”, also from Lions Gate, rung up US$14,8 million in US theatres.
Industry forecasters had projected “Cabin” would debut with at least US$13 million in the US.
The movie picked up steam at the weekend, adding 3 percent from Friday to yesterday, said Fay, unusual for a horror flick and points to good word of mouth. The film generated surprisingly good reviews from critics, which helped sell the film to an over 25-year-old audience that doesn’t generally go for creepy movies.
“The Three Stooges”, an effort to bring the goofy comic trio to a new generation, pulled in US$17,1 million for second place.
The eye-poking act started as vaudeville comedy in 1930 and enjoyed its greatest popularity in 1946, according to the online encyclopedia site Wikipedia.
In the current movie, slapstick trio Larry, Curly and Moe stumble into a murder plot and star in a reality television show.
Fox spent about US$35 million to produce the film and had projected opening weekend sales of around US$10 million.
Box office prognosticator had projected it would do US$15 million.
“‘The Three Stooges’ drew more than 52 percent of its audience from movie (goers) under the age of 25,” said Chris Aronson, Fox’s executive vice-president for US distribution.
The comedy sequel “American Reunion” grossed US$10,6-million, giving Comcast Universal Pictures a second film in the top 10.
Its animated film “Dr Seuss’ The Lorax”, was 10th for the weekend with US$3 million, adding to a total of US$204 million so far this year.
“People said you could get more if we released them in the summer,” said Universal president of distribution Nikki Rocco.
The summer will be filled with blockbusters in waiting, including sequels to “Men in Black” and “Spider-Man”, and another instalment of the “Batman Dark Knight” series.
The other new nationwide release, sci-fi thriller “Lockout”, landed in tenth place with nearly US$6,3 million at US theatres.
The film tells the story of a man who tries to rescue the president’s daughter from an outer space prison. — Reuters.