The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and the new animated blockbuster Frozen dominated the attention and wallets of audiences selling a jaw-dropping $203 million worth of tickets over the five-day Wednesday-to-Sunday period. They generated the two largest grosses ever seen for the holiday frame and accounted for two-thirds of all movie spending over the long weekend. Other new releases got the leftovers.

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence, left) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson, right) in The Hunger Game: Catching Fire. (Photo: Murray Close/Lionsgate)

Staying on top for the second week, Catching Fire was red hot and held up better than other major book sequels have earning $74.18 million over three days (Nov. 29-Dec. 1) and $110.2 million over the five-day holiday. Both figures set new records for Thanksgiving beating the $57.5 million and $82.4 million of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone from 2001 when the first wizard movie was in its second weekend. Catching Fire has a 10-day take of $296.30 million.

Disney’s newest animated feature Frozen also enjoyed a record-breaking debut. The PG-rated film brought in $67.39 million three days and $93.93 million over five days with both figures breaking the records for largest Thanksgiving opening ever. The milestone had been held since 1999 by Toy Story 2 which captured $57.4 million in three days and $80.1 million in five days. Disney often uses Thanksgiving to launch a major kidpic, but the results this time were beyond spectacular. The three-day take nearly matched the $68.7 million five-day debut of the studio’s Tangled from 2010.

In its fourth weekend, Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World collected $11.09 million for a domestic take of $187.92 million surpassing the $181 million of its 2011 predecessor. Fellow sequel The Best Man Holiday slipped to $8.17 million bring its total take to $63.09 million so far.

Fast & Furious 7 star Jason Statham’s latest offering Homefront debuted in fifth with $6.92 million. Its five-day gross was $9.74 million. Vince Vaughn’s comedy Delivery Man held up well in its second weekend but still has brought in modest numbers. The Disney release earned $6.84 million for a $19.36 million total after 10 days.

A couple of new wide releases with mixed reviews followed with each taking a small slice of the overall Thanksgiving pie. The drama The Book Thief expanded nationwide going from 70 to 1,234 theaters and grossed $4.86 million. The five-day gross was $6.4 million and the total $7.86 million. Black Nativity, the musical drama starring Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, Tyrese Gibson and Mary J. Blige did not draw much of a crowd opening to $3.67 million over three days and $4.78 million over five.

The well-reviewed Judi Dench drama Philomena went wide into 835 theaters from four and took in $3.68 million. The PG-13 film has banked $4.64 million to date for The Weinstein Co. Moviegoers had no interest in Spike Lee’s American remake of Oldboy, which debuted to $885,032 from 583 sites. Reviews were not so great for the FilmDistrict release, which had $1.28 million in sales since its Wednesday launch. Opening such a dark story over a holiday weekend when audiences demand happy and cheery films was a big gamble from the day it got moved from its previous release date of Oct. 25.

DreamWorks’ The Croods led the box office last weekend (March 22, 2013), bringing in $43.6 million on its opening weekend according to boxoffice.com. The upcoming Easter holiday and lack of animated competition in the near future should both help holding power for the prehistoric 3D comedy adventure that follows the world’s last cave family as they embark on a journey of a lifetime when their cave is destroyed. The movie tells the story of the world’s first family road trip. Traveling across a spectacular landscape, the Croods discover an incredible new world filled with fantastic creatures. You can read our 3 Heel review here.

The Croods (Photo courtesy DreamWorks)

FilmDistrict’s Olympus Has Fallen debuted in second place with $30.4 million. The action thriller stars Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Angela Bassett and Morgan Freeman. After the lackluster performances of Chasing Mavericks and Playing for Keeps, Olympus Has Fallen is a rebound for Butler. Our Olympus review is here.

Oz: The Great and Powerful saw its two-week run at the top end this weekend, as the Disney blockbuster fell to third with $21.6 million. Sony’s The Call fell two spots to finish fourth with $8.9 million.

Article by Executive Editor Mark Heckathorn

When the White House (Secret Service code name Olympus) is captured by terrorists and the president is kidnapped, a disgraced former presidential bodyguard finds himself with the country’s future on his shoulders. As the national security team scrambles to respond, they are forced to rely on the bodyguard’s inside knowledge to help retake the White House, save the president and avert an even bigger crisis.

Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) helps President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) out of the White House after rescuing him from terrorists.

Fall from grace

Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is President Benjamin Asher’s (Aaron Eckhart) lead bodyguard, confidant, boxing partner and family friend. After a tragic accident in which the first lady (Ashley Judd) is killed, Banning is demoted and assigned to desk duty at the Treasury Department. But when the South Korean foreign minister visits the president, his supposed bodyguards and North Korean sympathizers capture the White House, kill the foreign minister and take the U.S. leaders hostage, Banning finds himself with a chance to make things right.

After the president, vice president, Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan (Melissa Leo) and others are taken hostage, Congressman Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), the seasoned Speaker of the House, assumes command. A veteran politician, he unflinchingly makes even the most difficult decisions when it comes to protecting the country.

Lynne Jacobs (Angela Basset) is the steely, strict and tough director of the Secret Service. As part of the security team working to save the president during the crisis, she convinces the others to put their trust in Banning.

The leader of the takeover is Kang (Rick Yune). As an aide to the Korean foreign minister, he appears to be unassuming with the quiet demeanor of an accountant — but beneath his reserve lays the heart of a cold-blooded killer whose only goal is to bring the United States of America to its knees. He’s assisted by Agent Forbes (Dylan McDermott), a former colleague of Banning’s who was present the night the first lady died. He has since retired from the Secret Service and now works private security.

Banning saves the day

Despite all of the security, Secret Service and others, the terrorists are able to take control of the White House in 13 minutes. Yet is takes the military 15 minutes to arrive. But Banning is able to make his way from the Treasury building to the White House, while single-handedly killing many of the terrorists, walks right into the building, gets into the Oval Office, obtains the president’s secured satellite phone and gets his son out to safety. He’s also able to blow up a U.S. prototype weapon being used against the military trying to take back the White House, override the surveillance system in the building, shut down a system set to detonate all U.S. nuclear missiles in their storage silos leaving the U.S. a barren waste land, kill Forbes, rescue the president and kill Kang, then walk the president out of the demolished White House to waiting medical personal.

How many heals does it get?

I find it hard to believe that terrorists would be able to steal an Air Force fighter plane and fly it to the White House. As D.C. residents, we all know it would be shot down long before it reaches the city’s airspace. It is also unbelievable that the president would take the Korean prime minister and his party into the bunker, despite warnings from Secret Service that it was against protocol. And surely Banning’s security access would have been erased after he was reassigned and combinations changed.

Also, the Korean that the terrorists speak is second rate. I was with a native speaker who laughed throughout the movie. He said that while technically correct, the pronunciation was similar to the Spanish that someone who was born and never left the Midwest would speak. I guess the budget didn’t include a speech coach. Finally, I found myself routing for the terrorists to kill the Secretary of Defense character, who cried, begged, and showed no qualities that would qualify her to lead the U.S. military forces. Rated R. Opens March 22, 2013

My Rating: 2 Heels

Article by DC on Heels Executive Editor Mark Heckathorn