Deadline - Hardly A Cash Grab: ‘Mockingjay’ Beats ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ As Highest Grossing Film Of 2014
It’s official: Katniss just kicked Guardians Of The Galaxy‘s butt. Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 hit $333.18M yesterday, seizing the title as the highest-grossing film of 2014 away from the Marvel/Disney comic book film which has amassed $333.17M at the domestic box office. Further bolstering Mockingjay‘s title is that its bread wasn’t propped up by 3D or IMAX ticket pricing, which was the case with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($424.7M) (however, sources say that Mockingjay – Part 1 did play approximately 350 non-IMAX brand large format venues where it grossed $10M).
This is all deja vu. Last January, Katniss overtook another Marvel superhero title, Iron Man 3, as 2013’s highest grossing film. In its seventh week, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire clicked past Iron Man 3‘s $409M, before finaling its cume at $424.7M. But the records don’t stop there: This is the first time in box office history that two films in a franchise ranked as the No. 1 titles at the domestic B.O. for two years in a row — no other Harry Potter, Twilight or Lord Of The Rings has ever done so. Not to mention, it’s the first time that a studio has had back-to-back annual No. 1 titles in decades (since box office charts began publishing in 1982, there haven’t been any studios logging back-to-back annual No. 1 hits). Also, it’s an anomaly that the No. 1 grossing film two years in a row features a female lead.