Fans are so hungry for The Hunger Games that Hollywood’s buzzing about an opening weekend to rival the $140 million debuts of some of the Twilight movies. Early tracking pegged The Hunger Games at only about half that amount. But box office forecasters have been continually revising their predictions upward based on audience awareness and advance ticket sales. The film opens Friday in the US. Hollywood.com box office analyst Paul Dergarabe-dian said The Hunger Games could approach the $130 million to $140 million level achieved by two of the Twilight films.
The Hunger Gamesmay have an edge, too. Female fans drive Twilight, while The Hunger Games has strong interest from both sexes. “Given that this is the first instalment, there’s no precedent for what this movie could do. We don’t have a track record for The Hunger Games,” Dergarabedian said. “This is one of those movies that because of that appeal to virtually every kind of audience, it could exceed even our strongest expectations this weekend. But we just don’t know.”
A debut of $140 million would put The Hunger Games into the top five on the all-time charts for domestic opening weekends. At No. 1 is last year’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 ($169.2 million), followed by 2008’s The Dark Knight ($158.4 million) and 2007’s Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million).
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‘Drink beetroot juice daily to avoid high bp’
Want to keep blood pressure under control? Drink a glass of beetroot juice daily, says a study. Researchers at the University of Reading have carried out the study and found that even a small dose of the vegetable’s potent juice can lower blood pressure levels of a person, the Daily Express reported.
In fact, they found that even a 100g dose resulted in a significant lowering of blood pressure in the short-term, up to four hours, and even in the longer term, up to 13 hours.
The study also found that bread boosted with a similar dose of both white and red varieties of beetroot also reduced blood pressure by a similar margin.
The researchers believe its potency lies in its high nitrate content. This is a chemical that when ingested becomes nitric oxide, which increases blood flow and keeps the blood pressure low. It cuts the amount of oxygen needed by muscles.
Professor Julie Lovegrove, of the department of food and nutritional sciences at reading, said: “Enriching bread with beetroot may provide a useful vehicle to increase consumption, particularly for those at risk of cardiovascular disease.”
— PTI