'The Hunger Games' earns record 68.3m dollars on opening day

London, Mar 25 (ANI): New sci fi adventure flick 'The Hunger Games' has earned a staggering 68.3 million dollars on its opening day itself, which is the fifth-best opening day ever and a new record for a non-sequel.

The massive takings included 19.7 million dollars from midnight showings as queuing fans scrambled for seats, the Daily Mail reported.

The movie easily surpassed the previous opening-day record for a non-sequel which was 2010's 'Alice in Wonderland' with 40.8 million dollars.

According to Paul Dergarabedian, analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com, the big start should translate into an opening weekend of as much as 140 million dollars domestically.

First-day revenues for 'The Hunger Games' were well behind the record 91.1 million dollars for last summer's 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.'The Hunger Games' still came within a few million dollars of each of the last three 'Twilight' movies, whose opening days ranged from 68.5 to 72.7 million dollars.

The film stars Jennifer Lawrence as a teen forced to compete in a televised death match against other youths in a future North American society where a privileged capital city oppresses the people of 12 outlying worker districts.

It is based on the first book in a best-selling trilogy by author Suzanne Collins. (ANI)