VIDEO: "Catching Fire" Ignites Box Office With Record $161 Million Debut

“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” exploded into movie theaters over the weekend, burning up box office charts with $161 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales, distributor Lions Gate Entertainment Corp said. The sequel to 2012 smash hit “The Hunger Games” scored the biggest November opening ever and recorded 2013′s second-biggest debut, short of the $174.1 million for superhero sequel “Iron Man 3″ in May. “Catching Fire” stars Jennifer Lawrence as heroine Katniss Everdeen, the skilled archer who becomes a beacon of hope for an oppressed society.

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VIDEO: "Catching Fire" Ignites Box Office With Record $161 Million Debut

VIDEO: Why "Hunger Games: Catching Fire"s" Budget Ballooned To $130 Million-plus

It’s not just the stakes that are higher as Katniss Everdeen returns to the arena for The Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire. The budget is escalating as well. For its follow-up to last year’s hit The Hunger Games, which opens Nov. 22, Lionsgate upped the film’s budget from $78 million to north of $130 million. Although Lionsgate brass wouldn’t comment on Catching Fire’s price tag, project insiders say several factors led to the extra $52 million. The mini-studio spent more than $10 million to expand the visual effects for the sequel. Star Jennifer Lawrence, who was paid just $500,000 to play archer extraordinaire Katniss in the Hunger Games, got a pay raise of nearly $10 million for Catching Fire. The remaining $30 million can be chalked up to the broader scope of the film.

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VIDEO: Why "Hunger Games: Catching Fire"s" Budget Ballooned To $130 Million-plus

VIDEO: Imax Forced To Decide Between "Gravity," "Hunger Games" In China

Imax has another fight between dueling Hollywood blockbusters on its hands in China. The good news for the giant screen exhibitor is Alfonso Cuaron’s space epic Gravity and Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire are both getting much-coveted releases in China. The problem is they’re set to debut on back-to-back days, with Gravity opening on Nov. 20 and the second installment in the Hunger Games franchise launching a day later.

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VIDEO: Imax Forced To Decide Between "Gravity," "Hunger Games" In China