Film file: 'The Hunger Games'
Popular young adult book to hit the big screen amid tremendous buzz
Rabid fans are feasting on advance tickets for "The Hunger Games," ahead of the film's release shortly after midnight Friday.
The teen flick, starring Liam Hemsworth and Jennifer Lawrence, has already sold out 4,300 screenings, according to Fandango and Movietickets.com, E! Online reports.
Considering that the Lionsgate movie is playing in just 4,137 theaters, it is possible that every theater has at least one sold-out show.
The movie is already the fourth biggest advance-seller of all time on Fandango, overtaking "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1," according to The Hollywood Reporter (THR).
By Wednesday afternoon, the country's top theater chains had also racked up more than $15 million in ticket sales, according to THR.
Box office experts are now predicting the film, which reportedly cost $75 million to make and $45 million to market, will gross between $130-140 million this weekend, making it the biggest March opener of all time -- a record currently held by "Alice in Wonderland's" $116 million debut.
"I'm feeling a groundswell here," Hollywood.com box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian told E! Online, agreeing with the predicted grosses for the film's debut.
However, Dergarabedian cautioned that the fact the film is the first release in a franchise means there is no track record to gauge its performance. "You need to be careful ... It could come in higher, it could come in lower," he said.
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