It’s hard not to be impressed by blockbusters right now.  2013’s top three films were The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Iron Man 3 and Frozen.  All good to great movies.  Catching Fire proved the most successful of the lot, grossing well over $400 million, and even outperformed the first film.  Jennifer Lawrence stars as Katniss Everdeen, who is forced to compete in a battle royale yet again in the savage Quarter Quell with Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) at her side, and with her love Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) watching from a distance.  My The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Blu-ray review follows after the jump. 

Available today on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download is director Francis Lawrence’s sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  While some were wary about a new director taking over the insanely popular franchise from Gary Ross, Lawrence turned in a pleasantly surprising and thrilling feature that stood head and shoulders above most of the big studio tentpoles released last year.  In anticipation of the film’s home video release, we here at Collider are happy to debut an exclusive clip from the bounty of bonus features included on the Blu-ray.  This particular clip focuses on how the Catching Fire team turned a parking garage into the impressive training compound in the film.  The sequel stars Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Jena Malone, Sam Claflin, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Stanley Tucci, Jeffrey Wright, and Amanda Plummer.

Hit the jump to watch the bonus features clip. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is available on home video now.

A deleted scene has been released from the upcoming Blu-ray/DVD for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire as well as another deleted scene from Thor: The Dark World.  The Catching Fire scene has Sam Claflin explaining how his learning to tie a noose in less than ten seconds ultimately went to waste, and while this scene does show more of his character Finnick Odair being charming, I can understand why it was left on the cutting room floor.  As for the scene from Thor, it’s a brief fight between Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and some Asgardian guards, and that’s about it.

Hit the jump to check out the deleted scenes.  Click here to pre-order The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which will be released on March 7th.  Thor: The Dark World is now available to own, and you can click here to go buy it.

This week’s new Blu-ray releases includes the most recent winner of the Best Picture Oscar, the highest grossing film of 2013, an American remake of a South Korean revenge classic, a few older titles, and more.  Briefly:

• 12 Years a Slave [Blu-ray] – $19.99 (50% off)
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (DVD / Blu-ray Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy) – $19.99 (50% off)
• The Grandmaster [Blu-ray] – $14.99 (50% off)
• Oldboy (+Ultraviolet Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] – $22.99 (36% off)
• Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor (Blu-ray) – $11.99 (40% off)
• Cold Comes the Night [Blu-ray] – $22.98 (96% off)
• The Last Days on Mars [Blu-ray] – $14.96 (50% off)
• Far and Away (Blu-ray + Digital HD with UltraViolet) – $16.99 (15% off)
• An American Tail (Blu-ray + Digital HD with UltraViolet) – $14.99 (25% off)
• Garden State [Blu-ray] – $16.18 (19% off)

Though 2013 was filled with plenty of superhero and blockbuster films that did solid business at the box office, it appears that Katniss has come out the victor.  Lionsgate announced today that The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has now grossed $409.4 million domestically, which surges past Iron Man 3’s $409.0 million total to make Catching Fire the top grossing film of 2013.  That’s quite an impressive feat considering Catching Fire didn’t enjoy the 3D surcharge that other top grossing 2013 films like Man of Steel and Despicable Me 2 did.  In fact, Catching Fire and Fast & Furious 6 are the only films in 2013’s Top 10 highest grossers that didn’t play in 3D.  Catching Fire’s worldwide total now stands at an astounding $832.2 million, and it’s the first film with a solo female lead to take the top box office spot since 1973′s The Exorcist.  Here’s hoping Catching Fire‘s success is a sign of things to come.  The series continues with this November’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.

For more on 2013′s box office, be sure to check out our resident math genius Brendan’s latest installment of Cinemath, which features a fascinating and in-depth look at last year’s box office.  Read the full press release after the jump.

The major guilds have all chimed in with their nominees, and as Adam has pointed out in his Oscar Beat column, this gives us a clearer picture of who might be getting Oscar nominations when they’re announced next week.  But it’s important to remember that guilds usually share members with the Academy, and now the American Society of Cinematographers and the Costume Designers Guild have chimed in with their nominees.

If you need proof that 2013 featured some beautifully shot pictures, the ASC ended up nominating seven films instead of five because there was a three-way tie.  As for the costume designers, the plunging necklines of American Hustle earned a nomination as did the also-glamorous The Great Gatsby.  I’m also pleased with the nomination for Her.  One of the things I noticed on my third viewing was the subtle way that designer Casey Storm provided a “futuristic” fashion by having the men wear high wool pants and button the top button of collared shirts.  It’s just another nice touch to a great movie.  Hit the jump for a full list of the nominees from both guilds.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues may have pulled off a (very narrow) victory on Friday, but the weekend treasure remained in Bilbo’s hands.  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was down 57% from its debut, earning an estimated $31.4 million and a second frame on top of the domestic box office.  Anchorman 2 came in second with $26.7 million: a softer launch than the sequel’s omnipresent marketing suggested.  Meanwhile, American Hustle and Saving Mr. Banks made their first appearances in the top ten, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Thor: The Dark World hit important milestones.

After unveiling the list of scores that will be competing for the Best Original Score Oscar last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has now unveiled the list of 75 songs that are in contention for Best Original Song.  The fantastic “Let It Go” from Frozen is already an early favorite, and five songs are eligible from Baz Luhrmann’s music-heavy The Great Gatsby including “Young and Beautiful” by Lana del Rey and “Over the Love” by Florence and the Machine.  As for pleasant surprises, it would be most excellent to see the emotional rap “So You Know What It’s Like” from Short Term 12 land a nomination.  Upcoming films that have eligible original songs include “Doby” from Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues and “The Moon Song” from Her.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of songs eligible for the Best Original Song Oscar.  The 86th Academy Award nominations will be announced on January 16th, followed by the Oscar ceremony on March 2nd.

WARNING: The only way to experience the full effect of Some Velvet Morning, is to walk into the film knowing nothing at all. You have been warned.

After putting colossal productions like Star Trek Into Darkness and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on their resumes, Alice Eve and Stanley Tucci opted to do a complete 180 with Neil LaBute’s Some Velvet Morning.  Eve and Tucci are the only two actors in the film, the entire narrative plays out in a single location and in real time, over the course of 83 minutes.  Hit the jump for more.

Frozen managed to climb past Catching Fire on its second weekend in theatres, giving the Disney hit its first win with an estimated $31.6 million.  The sequel to The Hunger Games was not far behind with $27 million but,  after that, box office estimates dropped precipitously on this notoriously low-grossing post-Thanksgiving frame.

After the record-breaking feast audiences enjoyed over the Thanksgiving holiday, this weekend will look a bit stingy by comparison.  Traditionally one of the slower frames of the year, this weekend will come down to a showdown between major holdovers The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Frozen.  Catching Fire had the edge on Friday, adding an estimated $7.7 million to its domestic total.  Frozen should pull ahead on the weekend chart, however.  The Disney hit is projected to pull in about $30 million on its sophomore frame, compared to Katniss’s $28 million.

Yesterday brought only one fresh wide release: Relativity’s Out of the Furnace.  The R-rated thriller took in an estimated $1.8 million from 2,001 locations on Friday after posting an uninspiring $27,076 from four locations on Wednesday and Thursday.  Compare that to the $123,340 that Inside Llewyn Davis claimed from its four locations on Friday.  On its first day in theatres, the latest from Joel and Ethan Coen averaged almost $31,000 per screen for one of the best limited debuts in recent memory.  We’ll have complete details tomorrow.

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).