STOCKS in companies with a stake in this weekend’s blockbuster movie The Hunger Games all rose in early trading on Monday, after the film opened with a record-breaking $155m at US and Canadian box offices.
Shares in Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, the studio that produced the post-apocalyptic action movie, rose by almost 4% in early trading.
As well as having the highest domestic opening weekend for a non-sequel movie Hunger Games also did well internationally, bringing in $59.3m from 67 markets for a global haul of $214.3m.
Other stocks that were up in early trading included toymakers Hasbro, which was up 1.4%, and Mattel, up 0.2%. Both have licences to make Hunger Games-related items.
Teen retailer Hot Topic said last week it had sold out some Hunger Games merchandise. Its shares were up 0.4%.
Anticipation had built among fans and on Wall Street, where Lions Gate shares jumped nearly 33% in the six weeks leading up to the film’s Friday opening.
Investor Carl Icahn took a 33% stake in Lions Gate in 2009 and launched an unsuccessful proxy fight to elect five board members to the studio’s board of directors.
Icahn bailed out on Lions Gate in August 2011, selling his 44 million shares for $7 apiece and losing out on a $331m profit based on Lions Gate’s closing stock price on Friday.