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As expected,attracted nearly unprecedented crowds to movie theaters this weekend. The highly-anticipated sequel opened to $158.1 million, which is the best opening ever in the month of November. It's also the sixth-biggest opening on record, and ranks third all-time among 2D-only movies.'s $158.1 million opening is a bit above the original, which surprised many when it opened over $152 million last March. It's also ahead of the threesequels that opened at the same time in November—all three wound up between $138.1 million and $142.8 million.'s debut ranks behindand, all of which had the added benefit of 3D ticket pricing. On Sunday, Lionsgate's estimate for the movie was $161.1 million, which would have set a new 2D-only record. When actuals were tallied, though, Catching Fire fell a bit below($160.9 million) and($158.4 million).In a situation like this, it seems like a good time for a reminder about how Sunday morning estimates work. On Sunday morning, studios use revenue figures from Friday and Saturday to estimate a Sunday gross. While that's a fairly straightforward calculation, there's no guarantee of accuracy—it's impossible to perfectly predict how many people are going to show up to the movies on any given day. However, movies are overestimated far more often than they are underestimated, which implies that studios tend to report the higher end of projections in order to get better coverage on Sunday mornings.In this case,was overestimated by 1.9 percent—a reasonable margin of error—and as a result wound up below the twomovies. Regardless of where it ranks, though, this is a massive success for Lionsgate.'s audience was split evenly between those over and under 25 years of age. It was 59 percent female, which is down a bit from the first movie (61 percent). The movie received an "A" CinemaScore, which suggests word-of-mouth will be strong.Long-term, the movie will absolutely hold better than thefranchise. Still, it's unreasonable to expect it to play as well as its predecessor, and a final tally below $400 million is likely.Whiledid huge business, the rest of the market was underwhelming. The Top 12 earned $218.4 million, which ranks 11th all-time.In a distant second place,plummeted 61 percent to $14.1 million. Through 17 days, it has earned $167.9 million; the movie is still on pace to finish above $200 million, but not by much.After a strong start last weekend,fell 59 percent to $12.5 million. Considering the movie's "A+" CinemaScore, that's a very steep drop. The movie has now earned $50.4 million, and remains on pace for at least $75 million total. Vince Vaughn comedybombed this weekend with just $7.95 million. Among recent Vaughn movies, that's less than half ofor, and is also noticeably lower than($12.8 million).Marketing tried to portray the movie as a heartwarming family comedy, though that clashed with the movie's raunchy premise (a sperm donor spawns 533 children). As a result, the movie seemed too mature for families, but too cheesy for most adults. It doesn't help that the movie was also sold on Vaughn, and audiences seem to be tiring of his schtick over the past few years.is the latest in a string of star-driven movies that have opened below $10 million; others includeandThe movie's audience was evenly split between men and women, and 81 percent was couples. They awarded the movie a "B+" CinemaScore; while that's a fine rating, it doesn't suggest that word-of-mouth is going to save this one. A final total below $30 million is likely at this point.rounded out the Top Five with $5.4 million. To date, the animated flick has earned $48.7 million.added $4.4 million to bring its total to $53.9 million. It's now only a few days away from passing($54.3 million) to become the highest-grossing movie yet for CBS Films.expanded to 666 locations and earned a solid $2.69 million. To date, the acclaimed drama has grossed $6.37 million., which is the first movie from former Senator Rick Santorum's production company, expanded to 392 theaters and earned $832,927. That's a fine figure for a movie targeted exclusively at Christian audiences, but also suggests the movie won't earn much more than $5 million or so in theaters.Disney Animation'sopened exclusively at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood this weekend. The movie earned $243,390, which is the seventh-highest per-theater average ever behind six other Disney animated movies that had similar releases. On Wednesday,expands to around 3,600 locations.At four locations,earned $128,435 this weekend. It expands to around 500 locations on Wednesday.Coinciding with its domestic debut,opened in 63 international territories and earned a fantastic $138.4 million ($146.6 million including its first week in Brazil). According to Lionsgate, it doubled the opening of the firstin most markets.The U.K. led the way with $19.8 million (two-and-a-half times as much as the first movie), and was followed by Germany ($12.8 million), Australia ($11.5 million), Russia ($10.8 million), Mexico ($10.7 million) and Spain ($5.6 million). As of Sunday morning, opening weekend figures for China were not yet available.The movie expands in to France and Italy next weekend, and reaches its final market (Japan) at the end of December. The firstearned $283.2 million overseas; based on its earnings so far,seems poised for at least $400 million.finally opened in China on Tuesday, and its opening week did not disappoint. The movie earned $35.5 million in its first six days, with around 20 percent of that coming from IMAX showings (a record in China). To date,has earned $331.5 million overseas; with Japan on the way, it should ultimately wind up over $400 million by the end of its run.added $24.8 million this weekend. Its biggest market so far is China, where it's earned $48.3 million. So far, thefollow-up has grossed $381 million overseas, and is on pace for around $450 million total.Box Office Mojo