Liam Hemsworth, left, and Jennifer Lawrence.

LOS ANGELES: North American cinema-goers had plenty of appetite for the latest “Hunger Games” movie, with the sci-fi survival flick debuting in the weekend box office’s top spot, industry estimates showed Sunday.

“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1,” in which Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, leads a rebellion against a future dystopian society, grossed $123 million over the weekend, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

The performance was strong enough to keep the animated robot caper “Big Hero 6” in second place. It pulled in another $20.1 million this weekend, grossing about $136 million.

Christopher Nolan’s space epic “Interstellar” remained in third, taking in $15 million.

Last week’s top opener, “Dumb and Dumber To,” a follow-up to 1994’s “Dumb and Dumber” starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, slid down to fourth with an additional haul of $13.8 million.

The box office’s fifth place went to “Gone Girl,” David Fincher’s thriller starring Ben Affleck as a husband suspected of murdering his wife. The movie took $2.8 million.

Sixth spot was occupied by “Beyond the Lights,” a romantic drama starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw as an up-and-coming pop star. It earned $2.6 million.

“St. Vincent,” a comedy starring Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy and Naomi Watts, earned $2.4 million in seventh place. Brad Pitt’s World War II tank battalion drama “Fury” dropped one place to eighth with $1.9 million, just ahead of Michael Keaton’s dark comedy “Birdman.”

Rounding out the top 10 was “The Theory of Everything” starring Eddie Redmayne as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. The film earned $1.5 million.

 
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