Culture

'Fire' and 'Frozen' Team Up to Conquer Thanksgiving

Welcome to the Box Office Report, where fire and ice make a very appealing combination for the holiday. 

By Esther Zuckerman
Saved Stories
This article is from the archive of our partner .

Welcome, to the Box Office Report, where fire and ice make a very appealing combination for the holiday.

1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Lionsgate): $74.5 million in 4,136 theaters.

Though Katniss held her top spot weekend to weekend, her probably more notable victory came over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday. As Pamela McClintock at The Hollywood Reporter wrote, Catching Fire overtook Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to become the highest grossing Thanksgiving film of all time, earning $110.2 million Wednesday through Sunday. Yes, the Girl on Fire is indeed on fire.

2. Frozen (Buena Vista): $66.7 million in 3,742 theaters.

The ice of Disney's wonderful animated musical Frozen may not have been powerful enough to overtake the fiery Hunger Games mockingjay, but Disney's not crying. In fact, while the movie may have made $66.7 over the three-day weekend, it made $93 million in five days, giving it the best Thanksgiving debut of all time, McClintock reported, beating the $80.1 million made by Pixar's Toy Story 2 over five days in 1999. Catching Fire and Frozen now have the "first and second largest three-day and five-day Thanksgiving grosses, respectively," according to Andrew Stewart of Variety.  For what it's worth, the success of these two also means that two films starring women—some of which were, yes, animated—were the biggest moneymakers this holiday.

3. Thor: The Dark World (Buena Vista): $11.1 million in 3,286 theaters.

The God of Thunder couldn't over take the ladies of Catching Fire or Frozen, but he plodded along.

4. The Best Man Holiday (Universal): $8.5 million in 1,717 theaters.

Also still in the top five? The Best Man Holiday, the film that almost dethroned Thor a couple of weeks ago.

5. Homefront (Open Road Films): $6.9 million in 2,570 theaters.

The Jason Statham/James Franco/Winona Ryder drama (ha! yes!) performed to its expectations, according to Stewart. What's notably not on the list? Spike Lee's hyper-violent Oldboy, which underperformed, even for its not-very-wide release. Black Nativity, starring Jennifer Hudson also underperformed, grossing only $5 million over the five day weekend. Ray Subers at Box Office Mojo had estimated that it would make at least $15 million.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.