‘Hunger Games 2: Catching Fire’ Tracking New November Record: Hot $140M-$150M

EXCLUSIVE: The 2nd installment of The Hunger Games film trilogy based on American writer Suzanne Collins’ bestselling books came on tracking this morning. Lionsgate’s Catching Fire three weeks out is currently looking to open with $140M to $150M in North American weekend gross. That should target the first installment’s opening of $152.5M and beat the recordholder for November, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, at $142.8M. Three weeks out, Catching Fire has 11% unaided awareness, the same as New Moon. However, Catching Fire‘s first choice at 27% is 10 points ahead of where New Moon was three weeks out. “Which we hope suggests upside in a crowded November marketplace with Thor and Frozen,” an insider tells me. Of course, tracking has been very unreliable this year and may not be an accurate measure of the film’s domestic box office prospects. The movie will be released on November 22nd. Gary Ross, director of the first Hunger Games installment, did not return and was replaced by Francis Lawrence. Pic stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth. The first installment of The Hunger Games was released in March 2012 and earned $408M domestic all in, for a worldwide total of $691M.