NEW YORK — “Mockingjay, Part 1” didn’t catch fire like the previous installments of “The Hunger Games,” but it still had the biggest opening of the year with $123 million at the weekend box office, according to studio estimates.

Lionsgate’s “Mockingjay” opened well below the $158 million debut of last year’s “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and the $153 million opening of the 2012 original. But even with a $30-million-plus slide in the franchise, “Mockingjay” far surpassed the previous top weekend of the year: the $100 million debut of “Transformers: Age of Extinction.”

The result made for some unusual ironies. The biggest opening of the year was seen by some as a disappointment. After initial box office receipts of “Mockingjay” rolled in Friday suggested a weekend take below expectations, Lions Gate Entertainment’s stock dipped 5 percent.

But the decision to split the final book in Suzanne Collins’ dystopian trilogy into two films was clearly lucrative for Lionsgate. “Mockingjay” did even better overseas, where it made $152 million over the weekend, accounting altogether for a $275 million global opening.

1. “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1,” $123 million ($152 million international).

2. “Big Hero 6,” $20.1 million ($7 million international).

3. “Interstellar,” $15.1 million ($70 million international).

4. “Dumb and Dumber To,” $13.8 million ($6.5 million international).

5. “Gone Girl,” $2.8 million ($2.4 million international).

6. “Beyond the Lights,” $2.6 million.

7. “St. Vincent,” $2.4 million.

8. “Fury,” $1.9 million ($12.4 million international).

9. “Birdman,” $1.9 million.

10. “The Theory of Everything,” $1.5 million.