Final 'Hunger Games' movie rules North American box office

The fourth and final movie in the Hunger Games franchise -- the saga that turned Jennifer Lawrence into a Hollywood mega-star -- ruled the North American box offices over the weekend, early results showed Sunday.

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2" raked in $101 million in ticket sales in its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, according to ticket-sales tracker Exhibitor Relations.

"Mockingjay, Part 2," however, failed to best the take of its predecessor, "Mockingjay, Part 1," which opened at $121.9 million, according to competing tracker Rentrak (Frankfurt: RK2.F - news) .

Nevertheless the Hunger Games movie franchise, based on a trio of best-selling young-adult fantasy novels by Suzanne Collins, had already grossed some $2.2 billion worldwide before the latest opening, according to Lionsgate, the studio that produced the films.

The books and the movies tell the story of Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence), a teenage heroine pitched into a deadly battle for survival in the macabre post-apocalyptic nation of Panem.

In second place was "Spectre," the latest James Bond movie, with gross sales of $14.6 million.

The star-studded spy thriller -- with Daniel Craig as 007, and including Italian beauty Monica Bellucci and Austrian Oscar winner Christoph Waltz as the villain -- has raked in $153.7 million in its three weeks in cinemas.

Third in popularity was the computer-animated 3D cartoon "The Peanuts Movie," which pulled in $12.8 million.

The family-friendly film was the first big-screen rendering in 35 years for the comic-book characters created by the late Charles Schulz, who died in 2000.

Two debuts also made the top five list: "The Night Before," a buddy comedy starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, with $10.1 million; and "Secret In Their Eyes," a murder mystery starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman, at $6.6 million.

The rest of the top ten were:

6. "Love The Coopers," ($3.9 million)

7. "The Martian," ($3.7 million)

8. "Spotlight," ($3.6 million)

9. "The 33," ($2.2 million)

10. "Bridge Of Spies," ($2 million.)