In one of the biggest holiday weekends of all time, the combined might of 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' and 'Frozen' proved that yes, ladies can star in major blockbuster movies. We'll see if this lesson sticks (it won't), but between those two and the surprisingly female-friendly 'Thor: The Dark World,' this was a great weekend if you were looking for quality family entertainment that didn't treat its woman characters like crap.

FilmWeekendPer Screen
1The Hunger Games: Catching Fire$74,500,000 (-52.9)$17,896$296,500,000
2Frozen$66,713,000$17,828$93,013,000
3Thor: The Dark World$15,493,000 (+9.1)$4,715$186,712,000
4The Best Man Holiday$8,491,000 (-32.0)$4,945$63,414,000
5Homefront$6,970,000 (-34.6)
$2,712$9,795,000
6Delivery Man$6,931,000 (-12.8)$2,283$19,453,000
7The Book Thief$4,850,000 (+695.5)$3,930$7,856,000
8Black Nativity$3,880,000$2,559$5,000,000
9Philomena$3,789,000 (+2,890.1)$4,538$4,754,000
1012 Years a Slave$3,025,000 (+6.8)$2,597$33,143,000

 

Although only in its second week of release, 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' is already looking like it's on the way to dethroning 'Iron Man 3' as the highest grossing film of 2013. With its $74 million weekend total, the sequel has made $296 million so far, making it the third highest grossing movie of the year already. It should make it to $400 million without much effort, so the real challenge will be seeing if Katniss and company can push it to $500 million. We shall watch and report.

In second place, Disney's 'Frozen' had a very strong opening. Although the weekend numbers total up to $66 million, the holiday release gave it a bigger bump and thus a current total of $93 million. That's the biggest opening for a non-Pixar animated movie in quite some time and the fact that audiences seem to really like 'Frozen' bodes well for the weeks ahead. If it's like most animated family fare, it'll hang strong for a month or so, taking smaller dips while everything else drops like flies around it. $250 million feels very likely, but can it do $300 million? Maybe.

In the third slot, 'Thor: The Dark World' got a holiday bump, grossing $15 million for a $186 million total. Although certainly not the size of 'Iron Man 3,' the film has handily outgrossed its predecessor and it should hit $200 million in the next ten days or so. Not bad. Not bad at all.

In fourth place, 'The Best Man Holiday' continued to exceed expectations, grossing $8 million for a $63 million total. It was already profitable after its first weekend, so every dollar made now is just gravy, lubricating the gears that are already turning to make the next 'Best Man' movies.

But it wasn't a strong weekend for everyone. Even with a small holiday bump, 'Homefront' underperformed in a massive way, making only $9 million for the weekend. For James Franco, it's another failed experiment. For Jason Statham, it's another bomb. Statham is a terrific screen presence, but he's not been seeing a lot of success recently. It may be time for a change ...

But hey, it still looks better than 'Delivery Man,' which made $6 million for a $19 million total so far. R.I.P., Vince Vaughn's career.

In the final stretch of the top 10, there's a disappointment ('Black Nativity'), a few limited release overachievers ('The Book Thief' and 'Philomena') and '12 Years a Slave,' which broke the $30 million mark. All in all, very few people had a bad weekend at the movies. The good movies are doing well, so audiences and studios are actually happy and in sync. Happy holidays, indeed.

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