'Frozen,' 'Fire' set to break box office records
From left, Anna, voiced by Kristen Bell, Olaf, voiced by Josh Gad, and Kristoff, voiced by Jonathan Groff in a scene from the animated feature "Frozen." Credit: AP
All that fire and ice at movie theaters this weekend is likely to make for one record-breaking Thanksgiving at the box office.
Disney's animated film "Frozen," which drew positive reviews from critics, and Lionsgate's "Hunger Games" sequel "Catching Fire" are on track to make history at the Thanksgiving weekend box office, with projected grosses of $93 million and $110 million, respectively, for the Wednesday-Sunday stretch, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen," "Frozen" has been an especially strong draw with families and seems poised to score the top Thanksgiving opening of all time, surpassing the $80.1 million five-day debut of Disney-Pixar's "Toy Story 2" in 1999.
The movie is also on target to score Disney Animations Studios' biggest opening for a Disney Animation Studios title, a record held by "Tangled" ($68.7 million) over Thanksgiving in 2010.
Meanwhile, in its second weekend, "Catching Fire" just keeps getting hotter and is likely to become the highest-grossing Thanksgiving film of all time, topping 2001's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" ($82.4 million).
"Catching Fire" also had the best-ever gross for Thanksgiving Day -- $14.9 million from 4,163 theaters -- topping the $13.1 million earned by "Toy Story 2." Globally, "Catching Fire" has raked in more than $482 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
