Box office preview: 'Catching Fire' and 'Frozen' will dominate

Are we all over our turkey hangovers now? After last week's movie binge, I'm almost not sure I want to hit the theater again this weekend, but there are some great offerings to check out. It's not a stretch to predict that once again, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will be the number one movie at the box office, but I do believe that last week's number two, Disney's new 3-D animated musical, Frozen, will continue to do extremely well. And given the current nasty winter storm blanketing so much of the country in coming days, it's possible everyone will be too cold to see a film called Frozen. Hopefully all of you in the middle of this storm are safe and warm throughout!

It's been a while since we've had a major player in the animated movie field (Free Birds is still out, but we're talking mega-blockbuster level and this is not that), but Frozen is fast gaining blockbuster status. Lines will likely continue to be long for Frozen this weekend, and the fact that the movie, which boasts the voice talents of Kristen Bell, Josh Gad and Jonathan Groff, is getting great reviews makes it even more appealing. Frozen is perfect for the holiday season, period. I've heard such great things, this might be my pick for the weekend.

As for how the box office will shake out, I'm thinking it's Catching Fire at number one, followed by Frozen. After that? Things get a tad murkier. We've got two new releases in theaters, the dramas Out of the Furnace and Inside Llewyn Davis. I keep reading that Inside Llewyn Davis, the melancholy film from the always brilliant Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, is in "wide release." Guess what? It's not. When a wide release happens, my theater always gets the film. Not so this weekend, unfortunately. Boo, hiss. Hopefully I'll get to see this one soon, because reviews are extremely good and I love the cast (including Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman and F Murray Abraham) and I love the premise (struggling folk singer works to make it against all odds in Greenwich Village in the early 1960s).

The other wide release, Out of the Furnace, is playing here, but the reviews aren't that great and, if I'm being completely honest, this one, despite a brilliant cast (Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Forest Whitaker and more), doesn't appeal to me all that much. I might see it, but only if I hear great things word of mouth.

Photo courtesy of EW.com