Lots and lots of talk about whether the much-ballyhooed “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” would break the November opening weekend record at the box office.
It’s not in 3D, but they did open it Thursday to give it an extra push.
And there are all those Katniss and/or Peeta Pals who have been salivating for it.
Based on Thursday night and Friday’s numbers, it’s looking like $145-150 million will be in the bank by midnight Sunday. That is well short of what prognosticators were predicting just this week — $170-180.
But since the November opening record is over $142 for the last “Twilight” movie, well — we’ve got a winner.
And what George Lucas famously said all those years ago about the secret to getting rich making movies was figuring out what 12 year old girls like, there you go.
“Delivery Man” doesn’t look like it will even make it to $10 million. This is the end of Vince Vaughn as a name star who can open a movie by himself. He had good material, but the French-Canadian version of this story tugged the heartstrings in ways Vince simply could not manage.
“Dallas Buyers Club” chased “12 Years a Slave” out of the top ten. “Ender’s Game” is nosediving.
Movie Nation 
I hate the way box office numbers are being treated like sports teams scores, nowadays. Let’s have qualified reviewers talk about the actual qualities of the films.
It’s worth reporting because what hits is what gets remade and sequelled. Over and over again. I take more interest in the offbeat films that find enough of an audience to warrant more risky releases.