'Hunger Games: Catching Fire' sets box-office ablaze with $161.1M opening

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, from foreground to background, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark and Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy in a scene from eOne Films Canada's 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'

NEW YORK -- The "Hunger Games" sequel "Catching Fire" opened with $161.1 million at the box office, narrowly besting the original film and setting a record for a November opening.

The result, from studio estimates Sunday, fell short of some expectations, and failed to dethrone the year's biggest box-office opening of $174 million for "Iron Man 3." But it did best the previous top November opening of $142.9 million by "Twilight Saga: New Moon."

But the bigger budget and better reviewed "Hunger Games: Catching Fire" is doing far better abroad than the 2012 original. It opened with $146.6 million internationally.

The domestic total included Thursday night screenings that made approximately $25 million. The film's three-day weekend total of $136.1 million was actually less than "The Hunger Games."