Box office: ‘Catching Fire’ and ‘Frozen’ on track to break record

Black Friday arrived at the box office this Thanksgiving weekend with moviegoers showing sustained appetite for leftovers. In its second weekend in theaters, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is on a course to not only come in first; it may score one of the most robust opening weekends in movie history.

The sci-fi sequel to 2012’s “The Hunger Games,” “Catching Fire” hauled in $31.2 million Friday, putting it in position to smash the five-day Thanksgiving holiday record -- of $82 million held by “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” -- with a projected $113 million gross.

The Disney animated kids’ flick “Frozen” took in a robust $26.8 million for second place, also putting the Hans Christian Andersen-based fairy tale film on track to break the “Sorcerer’s Stone” record with a projected five-day take of around $93 million.

PHOTOS: Movie scenes from Disney’s ‘Frozen’

The other new holiday films in wide release have a mixed report card.

The Jason Statham-starring thriller “Homeland,” which also stars Winona Ryder and James Franco and received a CinemaScore of B, pulled in $2.6 million Friday to post a so-so opening in the $9-million range.

Plateauing into wide release Wednesday, 20 Century Fox’s “The Book Thief” -- about a young girl adopted by a German couple in World War II -- earned $1.9 million Friday for a $4.9-million cumulative gross.

“Black Nativity,” writer-director Kasi Lemmons’ adaptation of Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes’ beloved 1961 musical of the same name, performed above expectations to crack this weekend’s top 10. Costarring Oscar winners Jennifer Hudson and Forrest Whitaker, the musical drama earned $1.5 million Friday.

PHOTOS: ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ Los Angeles premiere

Weinstein Co.’s adult-skewing “Philomena,” the British drama starring Judi Dench as a woman who spends five decades searching for the son she put up for adoption,” claimed the ninth spot with $1.3 million.

In the impending flop department, Spike Lee’s violent thriller “Oldboy” is projected to gross as little as $1.2 million over its five-day opening. A remake of South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s cultishly popular 2003 potboiler of the same name, Lee’s adaptation stars Josh Brolin as a man mysteriously imprisoned for 20 years who rains down vengeance on his captors (with the help of a menacing hammer) in pursuit of the truth about his captivity.

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