I am curious in what context you mean "crush the competition". Though I will say, I think on both a critical and box office level, this is going to be a runaway success.

I know there's comparisons to Twilight with this just due to the target demographic, but I have a feeling this could beat out Twilight in the box office. Or at least be on the same level. By that I mean comparing this to the first Twilight release (wouldn't be fair to compare it to the others). It helps that, I think, Hunger Games reaches a wider audience than Twilight. It appeals to the same demographic as Twilight (maybe losing some due to it being more violence heavy with only undertones of romance), but it also has more cross-over appeal for males and even older crowds.

The movie has been tracking really well too. It won't break any records, but this is going to do well. Lionsgate says it needs to make at least $100 million to justify a sequel. I say it does that in its first weekend alone (once you factor in international numbers).

I think we could be looking at Transformers (Bay's first one) type numbers here. And depending on how the marketing goes over the next few weeks, it could get even higher.

Given the tracking so far, at this point I say there's no doubt it will get at least $65 million domestic on opening weekend. But I predict it will be more like $70 million. With potential to do even a bit more if the excellent marketing campaign continues to ramp up interest.

I also think this will be a fairly good success critically. As such, word of mouth should help it have pretty decent legs. This will be helped even more by the fact that Hunger Games has only minor competition until May when The Avengers drops. So, basically, it has no real competition through the bulk of its theatrical run. As such, I think we could be looking at a $200 million domestic run. Worldwide, at least a $400 million with potential to edge up towards half a billion lifetime if it has the international appeal that I think it will.

I would have liked it to get an A rating and maybe be a little more violent but then they wouldn't get the true audience the books were aimed at.

@JL

Ya our rating system is a little more liberal than yours. an A rating is 14 and up...So I guess that would translate into an R rating for you guys...Strange really.