(EW.com) -- The girl on fire is still burning bright! Lionsgate's hotly anticipated sequel "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" trounced the competition over its first weekend at the box office, pulling in an estimated $161.1 million. That gross handily beats the $152.5 million opening of "The Hunger Games," which opened in March 2012, and it stands as the best November debut of all time ahead of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," which bowed with $142.9 million in 2009. Only three films have ever opened higher than "Catching Fire": "The Avengers" ($207.4 million), "Iron Man 3" ($174.1 million), and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" ($169.2 million).
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"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" trounced the weekend's competition
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It earned an estimated $161.1 million
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Only three films have opened higher at the box office
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That sum also makes "Catching Fire" the best November debut of all time
Lionsgate spent $130 million on the film — a major increase from the original "@placeholder'" $78 million budget.