‘Frozen,’ ‘Catching Fire’ set Thanksgiving-weekend records
The holiday box office exploded this weekend as both “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire†and “Frozen†topped records held by “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone†for the biggest three-day and five-day Thanksgiving weekend grosses.
Generating a studio-estimated $66.7-million, three-day gross and $93 million, five-day gross (films opened Wednesday evening in time for the holiday, instead of the usual Thursday evening) Disney’s “Frozen†also marked the biggest Thanksgiving-weekend opening ever, beating three-day and five-day records set in 1999 by “Toy Story 2.â€
Meanwhile, in its second week in wide release, Lionsgate’s “Catching Fire†-- a dystopian thriller about children pitted against each other in a fight to the death -- continued its box-office rampage, pulling in domestically a studio-estimated $74.5 million over three days and $110.2 million over five days, and a jaw-dropping worldwide gross of $573 million.
PHOTOS: Movie scenes from Disney’s ‘Frozen’ & ‘Hunger Games: Catching Fireâ€
The three-day and five-day domestic figures broke records of $57.5 million and $82.4 million, respectively, set in 2001 by “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,†giving “Catching Fire†the highest-grossing Thanksgiving weekend of all time, on top of its all-time record November opening.
Walt Disney Studios, which has been on a tear this year with mega-hits like “Thor: The Dark World,†“Iron Man 3†and “Planes,†announced Sunday that it had reached the $4-billion mark at the global box office for the first time in its history.
Both “Catching Fire†and “Frozen†are audience and critical darlings. The former drew an A rating according to CinemaScore, a research firm that polls moviegoers, and the latter received a coveted A+ rating.
The A+ is a distinction held by a select few films that have gone on to become classics including “The King’s Speech,†“Titanic†and most recently Universal Pictures’ “The Best Man Holiday.†The Malcolm D. Lee-directed rom-com held tight at the box office over the weekend, coming in at fourth place with $8.5 million, below Disney’s other big box office winner, “Thor: The Dark World,†which pulled in $11.1 million.
That Disney is thriving on a global level is thanks in large part to the scope of its reach toward all types of audiences. That a violent film like “Thor†can thrive alongside a holiday classic in the making like “Frozen†is testament to what Dave Hollis, Disney’s executive vice president of theatrical distribution, calls the studio’s “tent-pole strategy.â€
PHOTOS: Billion-dollar movie club
“It’s a nice portfolio of branded offerings,†said Hollis on Sunday. “And it’s driving all sorts of people to movie theaters.â€
As expected, “Frozen†drove mostly families to the big screen with 81% of its audience identifying as such. But it also performed well in all age brackets with 42% of its audience at least 26 years old. Children ages 2 to 11 accounted for 38% of the audience.
“Frozen†is an animated 3-D musical directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee and featuring the voices of Kristen Bell, Josh Gad and Idina Menzel. It follows a young girl in an epic journey to find her lost sister in a kingdom that is trapped in eternal winter.
“For a company built on animation, to have an animated film be the biggest Thanksgiving opening ever is particularly special,†said Hollis. Notably, the film was made by Disney Animation Studios and not a more modern incarnation like Pixar.
Elsewhere at the box office the Open Road Films’ thriller “Homefront,†starring Jason Statham, pulled in nearly $7 million in three days to come in at No. 5 for the weekend.
In addition, Fox Searchlight’s “Black Nativity,†based on the play by Langston Hughes, earned $3.9 million and came in at No. 8, just below Fox Searchlight’s family friendly picture, “The Book Thief,†which expanded into more than 1,000 theaters this weekend and grossed $4.9 million.
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