BOX OFFICE REPORT (NOV. 29-DEC. 1): 'The Hunger Games' and 'Frozen' Dominate in a Record-Setting Weekend

That's how you do a Thanksgiving weekend. The box office saw a historic weekend thanks to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Frozen, with both films setting new records. Catching Fire moved closer to the $300 million mark, bringing in $110.1 million over the full Thanksgiving holiday weekend (Wednesday through Sunday), trumping the previous record of $82.4 million set by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Catching Fire's normal weekend total also stands as the fourth highest second weekend of all time, trailing only The Avengers, Avatar and The Dark Knight.

Thanksgiving weekend also served as a reminder to the pop culture world that Disney was back as both a critical and financial animation force. While Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph hinted that the House of Mouse was ready to challenge its corporate sibling Pixar for animated supremacy, Frozen decisively shifted momentum to Disney. Not only will the film probably win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, but Frozen also set a few box office records of its own. Fittingly, Frozen's $93 million extended weekend gross broke the previous record of $80.1 million, set by Pixar's Toy Story 2.

1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (1st)
Weekend gross: $74.50 million / Total domestic gross: $296.50 million / 
Percent drop: 52.9
Catching Fire is just a few million dollars short of crossing the $300 million mark, pulling in more money over its first ten days than any film in history with the exception of The Avengers ($257.63 million) and The Dark Knight ($313.78). The Hunger Games sequel is also the third-highest-grossing movie of 2013, trailing Iron Man 3's $409.01 million and Despicable Me 2's $366.95 million. With the pace that Catching Fire is on, could it trump Iron Man 3?

2. Frozen (NR)

Weekend gross: $66.71 million / Total domestic gross: $93.36 million / 
Percent drop: NA
So where do we start the beginning of Disney's latest animation renaissance? Bolt benefited from John Lasseter's involvement after the studio purchased Pixar and put him in charge of Walt Disney Animation Studios, but I don't think you can really count this phase starting until Tangled, though. Between that film, Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen, Disney has something special going. Thanks to the Oscar for Best Animated Feature being relatively new, the studio has never won one (they should have beat Pixar's Brave last time, though), so it's going to be bizarre to hear their 2014 win be announced as Disney's first.

3. Thor: The Dark World (2nd)

Weekend gross: $11.11 million / Total domestic gross: $186.71 million / 
Percent drop: 28.1
Thanks to Thanksgiving, Thor: The Dark World was back to outgrossing its predecessor at the same point. Bigger news, though, is that Thor: The Dark World has now completely outgrossed 2011's Thor, which stopped at $181.03 million at the domestic box office. Overall, the Thor sequel is now the fifth-highest-grossing movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, trailing only The Avengers and the three Iron Man movies. Not bad company.

4. The Best Man Holiday (3rd)

Weekend gross: $8.49 million / Total domestic gross: $63.41 million / 
Percent drop: 32.0
Can The Best Man Holiday cross the $100 million mark? It's going to need to strong box office stamina if it plans on accomplishing that.

5. Homefront (NR)

Weekend gross: $6.97 million / Total domestic gross: $9.80 million / 
Percent drop: NA

Yikes. Everyone just wanted to see Frozen first ... and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire for a second time ... right?

Next week's predictions

1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

2. Frozen

3. Thor: The Dark World

4. Out of the Furnace

5. The Best Man Holiday

SOURCE: Box Office Mojo