Box office report: 'Catching Fire' breaks November record with $161.1M

Box office report: 'Catching Fire' breaks November record with $161.1M

That is not only the best November opening on record, but the best for any month outside of the summer blockbuster season, and the best ever for a purely 2-D film. Only three films, all released in summer, all in 3-D, have ever had stronger openings: The Avengers (May, 2012), Iron Man 3 (May, 2013), and the last Harry Potter film (July, 2011).

And it got an enthusiastic A Cinemascore!

As if that weren't good enough news for Lionsgate, the film is also going gangbusters internationally. That's a nice surprise because the first Hunger Games film, although a powerhouse domestically (now #7 among all time openings), was somewhat of a disappointment overseas (60th best opening). The first Hunger Games opened with a solid but unspectacular $59 million overseas, but the sequel raked in $147 million from foreign markets this weekend.

Disney will try to slow down the Hunger Games juggernaut next week by releasing a heavily promoted animated film, Frozen.

Meanwhile, in meaningless news, Vince Vaughn's movie took in a mere $8 million and The Christmas Candle took in a million in about 400 theaters.