'The Hunger Games' Pulls In $155 Million To Land Third Biggest Opening Ever

Everyone was expecting it, but the opening weekend success of 'The Hunger Games' is still something to be lauded with the film taking a whopping $155 million dollars at the U.S. Box Office, making it the third-best debut ever, only behind the $169.2 million achieved by the Harry Potter finale last year and the 2008 Batman movie 'The Dark Knight.'

However, as The Press Association points out, both those films were part of hugely popular franchises already. 'The Hunger Games,' then, is the highest grossing non-sequel in history beating its rival 'The Twilight Saga' which 'only' took in $69.6 million during its opening weekend back in November 2008.

However, a note of caution for those getting too carried away as the film didn't quite achieve the worldwide success many had anticipated, taking only $59.3 million across 67 other markets including the UK, Germany, France, Russia and Australia. The film sees a glittering cast of young and older actors mix in a classy sci-fi adaptation of Suzanne Collins' novel which sees 24 youths forced to compete in a televised death match in a post-apocalyptic North American society. A bit like 'Battle Royale' then really. Among the stars of the film are Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Woody Harrelson whilst the sound track features Arcade Fire and TAYLOR SWIFT.