Corona | Coming Attractions

Lionsgate chose to release the DVD/Blu-ray of The Hunger Games last Friday, and it seems to have paid off. The company is reporting that they have seen sales of 3.8 million units of the movie over the weekend.

As well, people were downloading the movie digitally. More first day transactions for The Hunger Games flick were made on Comcast that any other movie in the past four years. The Hunger Games also generated more first day sales on Xbox Live's Zune Video and broke the previous record for sales on iTunes.

Of course, the studio is very pleased by the record sales. "Our motion picture event of the year is translating into a home entertainment juggernaut that is already setting new digital records and demonstrating sustained playability similar to the film's remarkable long-term box office performance," said the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Lionsgate Home Entertainment, Ron Schwartz. "We are especially pleased to see more than one third of its first weekend units sold in the higher margin Blu-ray format, a remarkably high percentage."

None of success for The Hunger Games' home video release should come as too much of a surprise. The movie earned $407 million dollars in North American theaters when it was released this past spring and another $300 million from international locations. Currently, The Hunger Games sits at position #13 on the all-time box office charts. Over 50 million copies of the book have been sold in just America alone.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is shooting shortly and has been scheduled for a November 22, 2013 release. The third and final book, Mockingjay, will be split into two films that will be released in 2014 and 2015, respectively.