Box Office: ‘Hunger Games’ Gobbles Up $19.1 Million Opening Day, ‘Trolls 3’ Rolls to Second as ‘The Marvels’ Faces Brutal Drop

J. Kim Murphy Ellen Holly, a stage and screen actor who became the first Black star of a daytime television series with her role as Carla Gray in ABC’s soap opera “One Life to Live,” died Wednesday at Cavalry Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y. She was 92.

Beyoncé‘s concert film, Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé, stormed at the box office this weekend, with $21million in ticket sales in North America alone.READ MORE: Beyoncé – ‘Renaissance’ review: a celebration of love and Black joyWritten, directed and produced by the 42-year-old singer herself, the movie focuses on the tour for her Grammy-winning album ‘Renaissance‘.Debuting in 2,539 theatres in the US and Canada, and 94 other territories globally, the movie features guest appearances from Diana Ross, Kendrick Lamar and Megan Thee Stallion.However, the opening did not quite reach the enormous success of the release of Beyonce’s peer and friend, Taylor Swift’s concert movie tour which debuted in October.Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour made a staggering $92.8million in its opening weekend.

Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé” is taking over the box office after grossing $11.5 million on its opening day from 2,539 locations, a figure that includes a strong $5.1 million in Thursday previews. Putting that next to the massive October debut of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” it’s shaping up to be the first year on record that two concert documentaries have opened at the top of domestic charts.

Kiefer Sutherland learned after meeting the late Shane MacGowan for the first time at a bar in the ’90s. A 2019 anecdote shared by the “24” star is making its resurgence Thursday amid news that the Pogues frontman has died at age 65. During an appearance on Ireland’s “The Late Late Show,” Sutherland, 56, told host Ryan Tubridy about the time he ran into Sinead O’Connor, Van Morrison, Ronnie Wood and MacGowan at a Dublin club.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes.Directed by Francis Lawrence, the prequel is set 64 years prior to the first film and depicts the events that led Coriolanus Snow (originally played by Donald Sutherland) to become the tyrannical leader of Panem.Tom Blyth plays the young Snow, who is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) in the 10th Hunger Games.It’s the fifth film in series, following 2012’s The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One and Part Two.There are currently no announced plans for another film in the franchise. Producer Nina Jacobson, who has overseen all five Hunger Games films, has said she is uninterested in making another instalment unless author Suzanne Collins writes another story.“If [Collins] had a story in this world with something she wanted to talk about, something to explore, then great,” Jacobson told Polygon in summer 2023.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director With “Twilight” celebrating its 15th anniversary this month, director Catherine Hardwicke joined the “Happy Sad Confused” spinoff podcast “Watchalong” to remember all the highs and lows that went into getting the vampire romance made. One of her more interesting revelations revolves around how impossible it was to predict the film’s box office. No one was expecting a phenomenon, and Hardwicke was even told her film would probably never crack the $30 million mark.

Broadway box office took a 7% slide in the week before the Thanksgiving holiday, with the 29 shows settling in at a total $27,060,113 in receipts.

Jennifer Lawrence, describing her as “so unbelievably kind”.Zegler plays Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes, a prequel to the original four movies where Lawrence played Katniss Everdeen.Speaking on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Zegler explained that she met Lawrence during Paris Fashion Week this year.“We were at Paris Fashion Week for the Dior show only a couple weeks ago,” Zegler said. “I didn’t want to be weird.

Refresh for latest…: Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes very (very) narrowly missed the $100M mark globally in its opening weekend, but it’s as near as dammit with an estimated $98.5M through Sunday worldwide. The Francis Lawrence-directed prequel came in slightly higher than pre-frame projections overseas with $54.5M from 87 international box office markets. The drag on getting to the century milestone was domestic at $44M versus hopes for $50M+. 

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter The odds were ever in favor of “The Hunger Games” prequel “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” which emerged victorious in a busy box office weekend despite opening slightly behind expectations. The film, which brings audiences back to the dystopia of Panem for the first time in nearly a decade, collected $44 million from 3,776 North American theaters in its first weekend of release.

EXCLUSIVE: Getting a leg-up here on our Thanksgiving stretch preview, Apple Studios production of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon will invade the global box office via Sony this Wednesday, in what’s shaping up to be a $46M WW global start.

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate‘s prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is looking at a Thursday night between $5.75M-$6M after showtimes that began at 3PM.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Welcome back to Panem! “The Hunger Games” franchise is officially revived with the release of “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” a prequel film set many years before the rise of Katniss Everdeen. Based on the Suzanne Collins novel of the same name, the prequel centers on a young Coriolanus Snow as his experience mentoring District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird in the 10th Hunger Games shapes him into the villain fans of the franchise know well.

Broadway began its trek into the lucrative holiday season last week at a steady clip, with the 28 shows grossing a total of $29,163,440 for the week ending November 12. That’s up about 10% over the previous week, though down about the same percentage from last year at this time.

Friends fans and coffee afficionados alike will soon be able to honor Matthew Perry and the show all in one swoop! Or one scoop, we guess?

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Marvels” narrowly missed the top spot at the mainland China box office on its opening weekend. And its debut was far short of its blockbuster predecessor. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway shows “The Marvels” earning RMB82.7 million or $11.5 million between Friday and Sunday in Chinese cinemas. Of that some $2 million or 17%, was earned in Imax theaters. The film’s debut weekend haul was a fraction below the RMB84.2 million ($11.7 million) earned by Chinese film “Last Suspect” in its second weekend of release.

The Marvels” likely won’t be able to reach even a third of its predecessor’s debut. The comic book film landed the second-lowest opening day gross ever across the 32 features in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, earning $21.5 million from 4,030 venues. That includes $6.6 million in previews.

Iman Vellani and Nia DaCosta are surprising fans at a screening for their new movie The Marvels!

Jordan Moreau “The Marvels” is getting ready to take flight at the box office, but it won’t be as sky-high as its predecessor “Captain Marvel” and many of its fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. The latest MCU adventure has made $6.6 million in previews at the box office. “The Marvels” is expected to make between $60 million and $65 million in its opening this weekend.

Ellise Shafer As evidenced in its title, music plays a big part in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” In the prequel to the original trilogy, “West Side Story” star Rachel Zegler portrays Lucy Gray Baird, the female tribute from District 12 for the 10th annual Hunger Games, who hails from a musical and nomadic people called the Covey. The film features Zegler singing several songs, including franchise favorite “The Hanging Tree.” Much of the music is folk-inspired, and Zegler sang each track live during filming.