“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” is heading for an opening weekend north of $130 million, according to pre-release tracking that came online Thursday morning.
Lionsgate Entertainment declined comment, but if it can hit that mark, it will be by far the year’s biggest debut, well ahead of the $100 million that “Transformers: Age of Extinction” opened with in June.
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The first part of the finale in the action-adventure series starring Jennifer Lawrence will open nationwide on Friday, Nov. 21. The bulk of the marketing and advertising push for “Mockingjay” will be rolled out over the next three weeks, so it’s very likely the opening number could rise.
If “Mockingjay” can come close to the debuts of the initial two movies, it will be the first time that the first three films in a franchise have opened with more than $150 million. “The Hunger Games” debuted with $152.5 million in March of 2012. Its sequel, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” opened to $158 million in November of last year.
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Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman co-star in the PG-13-rated “Mockingjay,” which is directed by Francis Lawrence and written by Danny Strong.
The first two “Hunger Games” movies have taken in $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office. “The Hunger Games” totaled $408 million at the domestic box office and $691 million globally in 2012. “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” rung up $424 million in the U.S. and $864 million last year.
“Mockingjay – Part 2” will be released on Nov. 20, 2015.