'Hunger Games' gobbles up box office top spot

Los Angeles (AFP) - "Hunger Games" fans gobbled up most of North America's pre-Thanksgiving weekend box office takings, debuting in top spot with the biggest opening of the year, industry figures showed Monday.

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1," in which Katniss Everdeen leads a rebellion against a future dystopian society, grossed $121.9 million over the weekend, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

That was over $20 million more than the second biggest opener of the year, "Transformers: Age of Extinction" which earned $100 million on its first weekend in theaters in June.

While impressive, the latest "Hunger Games" movie's success was less than its two predecessors: the 2012 original starring Jennifer Lawrence made $152 million, while last year's "Catching Fire" earned $158 million.

But in this week's box office it easily eclipsed second-placed "Big Hero 6," after the animated robot caper pulled in another $20.1 million to gross about $136 million in its three weeks in theaters.

Christopher Nolan's space epic "Interstellar" remained in third, taking in $15.3 million.

Last week's top opener, "Dumb and Dumber To," a follow-up to 1994's "Dumb and Dumber" starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, slid down to fourth with an additional haul of $14.1 million.

The box office's fifth place went to "Gone Girl," David Fincher's thriller starring Ben Affleck as a husband suspected of murdering his wife. The movie took $2.8 million.

Sixth spot was occupied by "Beyond the Lights," a romantic drama starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw as an up-and-coming pop star. It earned $2.6 million.

"St Vincent," a comedy starring Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy and Naomi Watts, earned $2.2 million in seventh place.

Brad Pitt's World War II tank battalion drama "Fury" dropped one place to eighth with $1.9 million, just ahead of Michael Keaton's dark comedy "Birdman."

Rounding out the top 10 was "The Theory of Everything" starring Eddie Redmayne as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. The film earned $1.5 million.