Lionsgate isn’t messing around with pushing The Hunger Games to the stratosphere. Deadline has learned that studio will usher The Hunger Games into 4,137 locations this weekend. That figure also includes just shy of 10,000 prints playing throughout the U.S. and Canada. More than three-fourths are digital prints, and more than 250 IMAX theaters are allocating auditoriums to play a picture that is estimated to make between $85 to $110 million this weekend.
Online pre-sales have eclipsed one million and a number of theaters are going to try to screen it as many times as possible, with some of the mega-chains dedicating between five to eight screens for midnight showings and just as many for the weekend.
As big a number as 4,137 is, it’s not even in the Top 10 for openings. The film that holds the record for largest opening goes to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. When it opened in 2010 it played at 4,468 locations.