It was feast or famine at this year’s Thanksgiving box office, as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Frozen eclipsed all other offerings.  Both films did better business than forecast and each surpassed long-standing records for the holiday frame.  Homefront and Black Nativity saw the flipside of Thanksgiving’s bounty, but overall grosses were still high enough to make this the biggest Thanksgiving box office of all time.

It looks like this year’s Thanksgiving box office will be a record breaker on multiple fronts.  Both The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Frozen are now on pace to top $90 million by Sunday, besting a five-day holiday high set by the first Harry Potter film in 2001.  Catching Fire burned brightest on Black Friday: bringing in an estimated $31.2 million, or a decline of just 56% from its opening day.  The sequel has earned more than $253 million domestically and is currently tracking ahead of Iron Man 3  after eight days in theatres.

Black Friday was also profitable for Frozen.  Disney’s animated feature took in an estimated $26.8 million yesterday and is now expected to earn $67 million for the three-day weekend, or about what Tangled took in over five days during the 2010 Thanksgiving frame.  The outlook is not as promising for the week’s other new releases.  Homefront placed sixth on Friday with just $2.6 million and is not expected to exceed $10 million in its first five days.  Even so, the week’s top two films appear strong enough to drive overall grosses past $291 million and a new domestic record for the long Thanksgiving holiday.

This year’s long Thanksgiving box office is off to a promising start for its two major players.  After setting a new November record with its $158 million debut last weekend, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is now poised to break the five-day Thanksgiving record with about $95 million in projected earnings between Wednesday and Sunday.  The holiday’s previous record was $82.3 million, set by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone way back in 2001.  Catching Fire passed $200 million on Wednesday, its sixth day in theatres (The Hunger Games took eight days to hit the same mark), and will top $500 million worldwide by this weekend.

In more surprising news, it looks like Catching Fire may not be the only film to break a record this Thanksgiving.  Frozen, the latest feature from Disney Animation opened on Wednesday with a very promising $15.2 million.  Frozen was originally expected to take in about $65 million in its first five days, putting it behind 2010’s Tangled in terms of successful Thanksgiving debuts.  But after a stronger than expected Thursday showing, Frozen is now tracking closer to $82 million through Sunday, which would put it ahead of both Tangled and long-time record holder Toy Story 2 on the list of Thanksgiving’s best box office openings.

We’ll have complete details on the long holiday box office this weekend.

This week on The Collision, the release and success of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has us talking about the adaptation of young adult novels, recent flops Beautiful Creatures and The Mortal Instruments, if there’s any room for next year’s Divergent to be a success, and much more.  As always, we finish up with our recommendations (and we’re recommending books!)

Click here to listen to the new episode of The Collision, click here for the previous episode (“State of the Oscar Race, November 2013”), click here to add the podcast to your RSS, and click here to find us on iTunes. To keep up to date with The Collision, you can follow us on Twitter at @MattGoldberg, @AdamChitwood, and @DrClawMD (Dave Trumbore).

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire surprised no one by setting a new record for a November opening.  Earning an estimated $161.1 million from 4,136 locations, the high-profile sequel easily topped the previous record of $142.8 million, set by The Twilight Saga: New Moon in 2009.  Perhaps more significantly, Catching Fire also managed to place fourth on the list of all-time domestic debuts, putting it ahead of both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.

Here is what the top ten looks like, as of this morning:

Analysis and this weekend’s top ten after the jump.

Like many others I presume, I can reduce my yesterday down to one common denominator: waiting. Waiting for my Xbox One to arrive in the mail, waiting for the “Day One” update to wrap-up, waiting for Call of Duty: Ghosts to install to my hard drive, waiting for Ghosts‘ mandatory 1Gb update to complete. All told, it was about a two and a half hour process from the time my console arrived at my door until I was able to fire my first virtual shot. Although I’d be lying if I said the delays weren’t tedious, at the end of the day it was absolutely worth it. Microsoft’s next-gen console isn’t perfect, but its ambition and by-and-large its initial execution are pretty damn impressive. Controlling the console via voice commands with Kinect is way smoother than I expected it to be. Directing my satellite television via the console is a feature that I believe, when mastered, I’ll wonder how I ever lived without. And that seems to be the general idea of the Xbox One: to make you reconsider what a video game console can and should do. Even if all of the pieces aren’t in place yet to make it a “must have” (I expect a steady barrage of software updates in the coming days, weeks, months, etc.), I’m having too much fun with it right now to care.

My initial Xbox One impressions aside, this week’s Top 5 includes The Hunger Games: Catching Fire interviews with Jennifer Lawrence and more, Dave’s Out of the Furnace set visit recap, Christopher Nolan strapping an IMAX camera to a Learjet for Interstellar, Delivery Man interviews with Vince Vaughn and more, and a new trailer for Lars Von Trier‘s Nymphomaniac that you’ll likely only feel halfway guilty for watching. Per the drill, a brief recap and link to each of the above rests after the jump.

Now playing in traditional theaters and IMAX is the sequel to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire.  Directed by Francis Lawrence, the film centers on President Snow (Donald Sutherland) trying to crush a budding rebellion that was ignited by Katniss’ (Jennifer Lawrence) actions in the previous film, as the 75th Hunger Games (aka Quarter Quell) finds past victors competing against each other.  The sequel also stars Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Jena Malone, Sam Claflin, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Stanley Tucci, Jeffrey Wright, and Amanda Plummer.

At the recent Los Angeles press day, I got to speak with Donald Sutherland.  He talked about what makes The Hunger Games so popular around the world, what it was like collaborating with Francis Lawrence, deleted scenes, what he collects, the way he prepares for a role, future projects, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

On its first day in 4,136 locations, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire took in an estimated $70.5 million, including $25.25 million from its Thursday night previews.  That is higher than the $67.2 million The Hunger Games earned from its opening in March 2012 as well as the $68.8 million of Iron Man 3.  For weeks, those two films have guided weekend projections for Catching Fire, with the sequel expected to land somewhere between the $152.5 million of its predecessor and the $176.1 million of IM3.

This morning, however, expectations have been scaled back a bit.  Catching Fire is now targeting a more modest $152 million through Sunday, or about $15 million less than originally expected.  Of course, anything above $142.8 million would still be enough to strip The Twilight Saga: New Moon of its record for the biggest November opening of all time.  But, considering that it has been an article of faith that the sequel would top its predecessor, the fact that that is now in doubt qualifies as a surprise.  Check back tomorrow to see how it all plays out.

Now playing in traditional theaters and IMAX is the sequel to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire.  Directed by Francis Lawrence, the film centers on President Snow (Donald Sutherland) trying to crush a budding rebellion that was ignited by Katniss’ (Jennifer Lawrence) actions in the previous film, as the 75th Hunger Games (aka Quarter Quell) finds past victors competing against each other.  The sequel also stars Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Jena Malone, Sam Claflin, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Stanley Tucci, Jeffrey Wright, and Amanda Plummer.

At the recent Los Angeles press day, I got to speak with Claflin and Malone.  They talked about what makes The Hunger Games so popular around the world, the costumes, what it was like collaborating with Francis Lawrence, deleted scenes, and much more.  Hit the jump to watch.

There was no question The Hunger Games: Catching Fire would be a big hit.  The only question was how big since it didn’t have a 3D boost, but it did have IMAX.  Variety reports the highly-anticipated and well-reviewed sequel earned $25.2 million from domestic opening night screenings, and is now on track for a $160 million weekend.  If it surpasses that number it will break the record for biggest opening weekend for a 2D movie (a record currently held by The Dark Knight Rises, which opened to $160.9 million).  If Catching Fire sticks to analyst predictions, it should handily take the record for biggest November opening, which currently belongs to The Twilight Saga: New Moon.  That’s what happens when your movie has crossover appeal.

While 2012′s The Hunger Games has the record for biggest opening weekend in March ($152 million), it looks like the Thanksgiving weekend will be a comfortable home for the franchise for the next couple of years.  The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 is set for November 21, 2014 and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 is due out on November 20, 2015.

Early in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the villainous President Snow (Donald Sutherland) reminds Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) that the Hunger Games were just a game.  Her real fear should be a war that will rain down hell on all of the districts if she continues to be a symbol to the downtrodden.  To both its credit and its detriment, Francis Lawrence‘s sequel shares those values.  The fear and excitement has left the arena and spread to the streets, and returning to a different arena almost feels safe by comparison.  The adaptation is a slight improvement on the book (mostly by avoiding author Suzanne Collins‘ poor prose and stilted dialogue), but also has the same structural weakness of taking the characters to familiar confines albeit with different players and hazards.  Nevertheless, the central core of the story remains strong and skillfully eschews the traditional heroine in favor of a scared puppet who can only summon her strength in certain situations.  It’s a confined character that can’t take full advantage of its actress’ immense talent, but as the movie reminds us, sometimes sacrifice is necessary for the greater good.

Opening this weekend in traditional theaters and IMAX is the sequel to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire.  Directed by Francis Lawrence, the film centers on President Snow (Donald Sutherland) trying to crush a budding rebellion that was ignited by Katniss’ (Jennifer Lawrence) actions in the previous film, as the 75th Hunger Games (aka Quarter Quell) finds past victors competing against each other.  The sequel also stars Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Jena Malone, Sam Claflin, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Stanley Tucci, Jeffrey Wright, and Amanda Plummer.

At the recent Los Angeles press day, I got to speak with Claflin and Malone.  They talked about what makes The Hunger Games so popular around the world, how Catching Fire expands the world and the characters, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Opening this weekend in traditional theaters and IMAX is the sequel to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire.  Directed by Francis Lawrence, the film centers on President Snow (Donald Sutherland) trying to crush a budding rebellion that was ignited by Katniss’ (Jennifer Lawrence) actions in the previous film, as the 75th Hunger Games (aka Quarter Quell) finds past victors competing against each other.  The sequel also stars Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Jena Malone, Sam Claflin, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Stanley Tucci, Jeffrey Wright, and Amanda Plummer.

At the recent Los Angeles press day, I got to speak with Lawrence. He talked about inheriting the cast that Gary Ross assembled, whether he was nervous about making Catching Fire, the length of his assembly cut, deleted scenes, and the shooting schedule for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and 2 (he reveals they’ve already shot five weeks on the sequels).  Hit the jump to watch.

If you think The Hunger Games: Catching Fire might be a bit too violent for the young children in your family, perhaps the Sesame Street version would be more their speed.  Spoofing the upcoming action sequel, the educational TV show has put together a five-minute short that entertains fans of the book series (and puns in general), while taking some time to teach kids about pattern recognition.

Opening this weekend, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire stars Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen.  Crumby Pictures’ The Hungry Games: Catching Fur stars Cookie Monster as Cookiness Evereat.  Who turns in the best performance?  Hit the jump to find out.

Opening on November 22nd in traditional theaters and IMAX is the sequel to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire.  Directed by Francis Lawrence, the film centers on President Snow (Donald Sutherland) trying to crush a budding rebellion that was ignited by Katniss’ (Jennifer Lawrence) actions in the previous film, as the 75th Hunger Games (aka Quarter Quell) finds past victors competing against each other.  The sequel also stars Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Jena Malone, Sam Claflin, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Stanley Tucci, Jeffrey Wright, and Amanda Plummer.

At the recent Los Angeles press day, I got to speak with Hemsworth and Harrelson.  They talked about what makes The Hunger Games so popular around the world, deleted scenes, what they collect, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.