'Catching Fire' Sets Thanksgiving Box Office Records

Americans went to the movies on Thanksgiving. Well, they went to TWO movies Thursday, Catching Fire and Frozen, propelling The Hunger Games: Catching Fire to $14.9 million at the domestic box office. That beats previous record holder Toy Story 2 to set a new record for Thanksgiving day box office.

That's after a massive pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday take of $20.7 million. Before that, the biggest pre-Thanksgiving day Wednesday was for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part I, which earned $14.4 million just before Thanksgiving.

Lionsgate’s blockbuster sequel has now grossed $222 million in North America since opening last week. It has earned an estimated $423 million globally and opened in 16 more foreign markets this week.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is on pace to earn a massive $100 million over the holiday weekend. If tracking holds, that would be a new record for the Thanksgiving holiday period, besting the previous record set by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in 2001.