Box Office: On second try, ‘Frozen’ is able to ice ‘Catching Fire’ with $31.6M

WITH DUELING film titles like these, you can readily write your own elemental wordplay for this, the latest box-office scenario:

The animated hit “Frozen” finally toppled the sequel “Catching Fire,” but “Furnace” sputtered badly.

“Frozen” dropped only 53-percent in its second weekend out, grossing $31.6-million, according to studio estimates Sunday. (Final numbers are due Monday afternoon.)

Disney’s latest non-Pixar CGI cartoon has grossed $134.3-million domestically, and is nearing the $200-million worldwide.

“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” was second over the weekend, grossing $27-million domestically. The second Katniss Everdeen ad­ven­ture is nearing the $675-million mark globally.

In its domestic debut, “Out of the Furnace” fared poorly, grossing only $5.3-million.

And looking ahead: Later this month, the top-of-the-marque star in “Catching Fire” (Jennifer Lawrence) will appear opposite “Furnace” star Christian Bale in “American Hustle.”

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FUN WITH NUMBERS

* “Catching Fire” ($673.4-million) has nearly grossed as much globaly as the first “Hunger Games” film ($691.2-million) did during its entire run.

* Lionsgate’s “Catching Fire” ($336.7-million) is now the third-biggest film of the year domestically — trailing only Disney/Pixar’s “Iron Man 3” ($409-million) and Universal’s “Despicable Me 2” ($367.2-million).

* As “Frozen” moves up the charts, Disney now has five of the 18 biggest films of the year domestically — including not only “Iron Man 3” but also “Monsters University” (fifth; $268.5-million), “Oz the Great and Powerful” (eighth; $234.9-million) and “Thor: The Dark World” (11th; $193.6-million).

* The samurai action film “47 Ronin” opened by grossing just $1.3-million in Japan, BoxOfficeMojo.com notes — following “The Wolverine” and “Pacific Rim” this year as films “with Japanese elements that have failed to actually have much appeal with Japanese audiences.”

The weekend’s Top-10 films by domestic gross, according to Rentrak:

1.”Frozen,” $31.6 million; 2. ”The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” $27 million; 3.”Out of the Furnace,” $5.3 million; 4.”Thor: The Dark World,” $4.7 million; 5.”Delivery Man,” $3.8 million;; 6.”Homefront,” $3.4 million; 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.