'The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping' tracking for an opening of at least $60 million, Deadline reports

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, the sixth film in the Lionsgate franchise, is tracking for a domestic opening weekend of at least $60 million when it reaches US cinemas on 20 November, Deadline reported on Thursday 29 October. The outlet said rival studios expect the three-day figure could go above $70 million.

These are pre-release forecasts based on audience surveys, not ticket sales. A start of $60 million would be above the $44.6 million opening of the previous film, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), which went on to take $394 million worldwide. The series’ biggest opening remains Catching Fire (2013), with $158 million.

Directed by franchise director Francis Lawrence, the prequel is set 24 years before The Hunger Games and follows a young Haymitch Abernathy, played by Joseph Zada, at the 50th Hunger Games. Jesse Plemons plays a young Plutarch Heavensbee. The cast also includes Ralph Fiennes, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin, Elle Fanning, Mckenna Grace and Maya Hawke.

Deadline said the film’s trailer was the second most watched for any Lionsgate film, with 109 million views in its first 24 hours. The film is adapted from Suzanne Collins’s novel of the same name, which Deadline said sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide in its first week. The five earlier films have taken more than $3.4 billion at the global box office, according to the outlet.

Lionsgate is holding a fan event with the cast in Los Angeles next week, after a recent one in London, Deadline reported.

See also: Box office: ‘Clayface’ opens at No. 1 with $24 million.