The first weekend in December is a notoriously weak one at the box office, and, true to form, most movies faced harsh declines this weekend after the record-breaking Thanksgiving frame. But Disney’s animated musical Frozen managed to score a not-so-severe 53 percent fall to $31.6 million this weekend, which sent it past Catching Fire and straight into the No. 1 spot on the chart. 
 
 Frozen has earned $134.3 million after 12 days in wide release, 39 percent more than 2010’s Tangled, which had earned $96.6 million at the same point in its run. The film will match its $150 million budget by this time next week, and if it maintains its current pace (which seems likely given its “A+” CinemaScore), Frozen could be headed for a finish of about $280 million. The film’s box office success is sending its soundtrack into the upper echelons of the music charts. The soundtrack debuted at No. 18 on the Billboard 200 last week, and it’s risen all the way to No. 4 on the iTunes chart as well. 
 
 In second place, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire fell 64 percent to $27 million, giving the blockbuster a $336.7 million domestic total after just 17 days. Catching Fire is still playing about $34 million ahead of The Hunger Games at the equivalent point in its run, but as evidenced by this weekend’s drop, it’s falling faster than that film, too. Catching Fire appears likely to finish with just about $400-410 million, matching The Hunger Games‘ $408 million total. Worldwide, though, Catching Fire will be much, much bigger. It’s already earned $673 million, and it will take just a few days for the film to blitz past The Hunger Games‘ $691 million global haul. 
 
 Christian Bale’s latest drama, Out of the Furnace, didn’t connect with moviegoers on its opening weekend. The bleak revenge movie, which also stars Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, and Zoë Saldana, pulled in a terrible $5.3 million from 2,021 theaters, yielding an anemic $2,523 location average. Even worse, audiences gave the film a rough “C+” CinemaScore, which will limit appeal in the weeks to come — especially given the upcoming release of Bale’s other, more anticipated release, American Hustle. 
 
 Two Disney films rounded out the Top 5 — Thor: The Dark World and Delivery Man. Thor grossed $4.7 million, enough for a $193.6 million total (and $610 million worldwide). Delivery Man earned $3.8 million, and the Vince Vaughn comedy has now grossed $24.8 million against a $26 million budget. 
 
 1. Frozen – $31.6 million 
 
 2. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – $27.0 million 
 
 3. Out of the Furnace – $5.3 million 
 
 4. Thor: The Dark World – $4.7 million 
 
 5. Delivery Man – $3.8 million 
 
 In milestone news, Paramount’s Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa passed the $100 million mark after pulling in $855,000 in its seventh weekend. Johnny Knoxville’s prank film has now out-earned big budget spectacles like Elysium, White House Down, The Lone Ranger, and Jack the Giant Slayer, and, unlike those films, Bad Grandpa cost only $15 million to produce. 
 
 Further down the chart, the Coen Bros.’ folky Oscar contender, Inside Llewyn Davis, made a huge splash in limited release. The rootsy tale strummed up $402,000 from just four theaters, which resulted in a $100,500 per theater average — the second best of the entire year after Blue Jasmine, which managed a $102,011 average from six theaters in July. CBS Films will begin expanding Inside Llewyn Davis in two weeks. 
 
 Also notable: In the wake of Nelson Mandela’s death, the Idris Elba-starring biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom fell only 8 percent in its second weekend to $77,000 from four theaters. For reference, the films in the Top 20 fell by an average of 52.4 percent this weekend. ||||| After two weekends atop the box office, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" was iced out by "Frozen." 
 
 The 3-D animated winter musical had a massive opening over the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, but was still unable to eke out a win over the latest entry in the popular young-adult franchise. During its second weekend in release, however, the tables turned as Walt Disney Studios said its family film collected $31.6 million to bring its domestic total to $134.3 million. The Katniss Everdeen tale grossed an additional $27 million, raising its tally to $336.7 million after 17 days in theaters. 
 
 Over Turkey Day, "Frozen" was quickly embraced by moviegoers, who assigned the film a perfect average grade of A+, according to market research firm CinemaScore. That positive audience word-of-mouth — combined with strong reviews from critics — is clearly paying off. 
 
 PHOTOS: Movie scenes from Disney's 'Frozen' & 'Hunger Games: Catching Fire' 
 
 The animated musical, featuring the voices of Kristen Bell and Josh Gad, follows a young girl attempting to find her lost sister in their icy kingdom. The picture is on pace to exceed the $189.4 million that "Wreck-It Ralph," Walt Disney Animation's last release, made in the U.S. and Canada last year — and has a good shot of surpassing the $200.8-million gross of the studio's 2010 musical "Tangled" too. 
 
 Meanwhile, at this point in its release in 2012, "The Hunger Games" had grossed roughly $34 million less than the sequel has. "Catching Fire" is also far surpassing the original overseas. The movie starring Jennifer Lawrence as a heroine fighting for her life in a brutal survival competition is now playing in 83 foreign markets, where it has grossed $336.7 million thus far — yes, oddly the exact same amount it has collected domestically. 
 
 The series' profile abroad has clearly risen since last year: "The Hunger Games" only made 41% of its $691.2 million global total internationally. The sequel is performing best in the United Kingdom, where it has sold $42.9 million worth of tickets, as well as in Germany and China. 
 
 While "Catching Fire" is still blazing its trail, "Out of the Furnace," the only new film playing nationwide this weekend, was unable to generate any heat in its debut. The gritty thriller bombed with just $5.3 million, one of the worst openings ever for star Christian Bale. 
 
 PHOTOS: On the set of movies and TV 
 
 Positioned as a possible awards contender by distributor Relativity Media, "Out of the Furnace" follows a Rust Belt worker (Bale) trying to save his brother (Casey Affleck) from a seedy crime ring. However, the picture has been met with lukewarm reviews and was disliked by its small opening-weekend crowd, who gave the film an average grade of C+. The movie attracted an older male audience, as 77% of the those who bought tickets were over the age of 25. 
 
 The movie was financed for $22 million by Relativity, though the studio says that cost was offset by about $16 million by pre-selling the film to foreign distributors. Relativity executives declined to discuss why the picture misfired at the box office, instead passing along a widely disseminated statement to the press. 
 
 “There’s no better swing for a studio to take than one with a daring story from a renowned director and an award-winning cast," read the statement from David Shane, Relativity's executive vice president of corporate communications. "While we had hoped it would perform better this weekend, we are all proud of this movie.” 
 
 ALSO: 
 
 'Frozen' and 'The Croods' are among nominees for Annie Awards 
 
 
 
 'Catching Fire,' 'Frozen' to stay on top as 'Out of the Furnace' bows 
 
 Review: 'Out of the Furnace' beautifully captures bare-knuckle lives
– The 3-D film Frozen has, well, frozen The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in its tracks. The Disney animated feature gained momentum in its second week, banking $31.6 million to surpass the young adult mega-hit's $27 million at the weekend box office, the LA Times reports. To be fair, Catching Fire is still No. 2 with $336.7 million under its belt domestically and the same amount abroad. The only new nationwide release, Out of the Furnace, tanked at $5.3 million, one of star Christian Bale's worst openings ever. Rounding out the top five are Thor: The Dark World ($4.7 million) and Delivery Man ($3.8 million), Entertainment Weekly reports.