"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" falls to second place
By Jake Coyle, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --In its second weekend at the box office, the Disney animated tale "Frozen" finally cooled off "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," while the week's lone new wide-release "Out of the Furnace" wasn't a match for either blockbuster.
According to studio estimates Sunday, "Frozen" led the multiplexes with a haul of $31.6 million over the weekend, taking over the top spot from "Catching Fire." Lionsgate's "Hunger Games" sequel had topped the box office for the last two weeks, but slid to second with $27 million in its third week of release.
Relativity Media's steel-town drama "Out of the Furnace," starring Christian Bale and Casey Affleck, posed no challenge for the bigger blockbuster holdovers. It opened with $5.3 million, good enough for third place on what's typically a quiet early December weekend, sandwiched between Thanksgiving and the coming holiday season releases.
But it was an excellent weekend for Hollywood, with box office up 16.9 percent over the same weekend last year. Opening in a limited release of four theaters, the Coen brothers' folk tale "Inside Llewyn Davis" also had one of the year's highest per-theater averages of $100,500 for CBS Films.
With only a handful of moviegoing weeks left in the year, the strong weekend boosts the year's chances of exceeding 2012's record box office. This year may surpass last year's $10.8 billion domestic box office, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak.
"We're running just slightly ahead of last year's record pace," said Dergarabedian. "It's going to be really close."
Dergarabedian expects next week's big release, Warner Bros.' "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," to open in the neighborhood of Peter Jackson's first "Hobbit" film, "An Unexpected Journey," which debuted with $84.6 million last year. This weekend's new releases were minimal since "The Hobbit" is expected to dominate the marketplace next weekend.
Both "Frozen" and "Catching Fire" continued to show legs around the world. "Catching Fire" added $44.3 million internationally, bringing its global cumulative total to $673.4 million over four weeks. With many millions still to come, "Catching Fire" has already almost equaled the $691.2 million worldwide of the 2012 original.
"Frozen," too, has found strong business abroad. It added $30.6 million internationally over the weekend.
In its second week of limited release, the Weinstein Co.'s biopic "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom," starring Idris Elba, continued to play in four theaters, earning an average of $19,400 per-theater. The Weinstein Co. has said it's not altering the movie's release following the death of South African leader Nelson Mandela on Thursday. "Mandela" opens wide on Christmas.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1."Frozen," $31.6 million ($30.6 million international).
2."The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," $27 million ($44.3 million international).
3."Out of the Furnace," $5.3 million.
4."Thor: The Dark World," $4.7 million ($5.4 million international).
5."Delivery Man," $3.8 million.
6."Homefront," $3.4 million ($1.5 million international).
7."The Book Thief," $2.7 million.
8."The Best Man Holiday," $2.7 million.
9."Philomena," $2.3 million.
10."Dallas Buyers Club," $1.5 million.
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Estimated weekend ticket sales Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:
1. "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," $44.3 million.
2. "Frozen," $30.6 million.
3. "The Four 2," $13 million.
4. "No Man's Land," $11 million.
5. "Gravity," $10.7 million.
6. "The White Storm," $8 million.
7. "Captain Phillips," $6.2 million.
8. "Carrie," $6 million.
9. "Thor: The Dark World," $5.4 million.
10. "About Time," $4.6 million.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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