'Unforgettable' marks a career worst for Katherine Heigl in opening to $4.8M, while Christian Bale-starrer 'The Promise' debuts to a paltry $4.1 million after costing $100 million to make. 
 
 Universal's The Fate of the Furious left the competition in the dust at the North American box office, grossing $38.7 million in its second weekend for a 10-day domestic total of $163.6 million and $908.4 million globally. 
 
 The action movie fell 61 percent in North America, a fairly good hold for the front-loaded franchise. Fate of the Furious is also doing massive business overseas, where it earned another $163.4 million for a foreign total of $744.8 million — led by China with an astounding $318 million. 
 
 Back in the U.S., The Boss Baby placed No. 3 with $12.8 million for a domestic cume of $137 million and $358.1 million worldwide, followed by Beauty and the Beast with $10 million for a global total of $1.1 billion. 
 
 Among the fresh crop of offerings, it was nothing short of a car crash, save for Disney's nature documentary Born in China. The doc earned $5.1 million from 1,508 theaters to place No. 4 and come in ahead of the other new films. 
 
 Warner Bros.' female-centric thriller Unforgettable, starring Katherine Heigl, debuted to a mere $4.8 million from 2,417 locations, marking a career worst for Heigl for a nationwide opening. "It just didn't resonate with our intended audience," said Warner Bros. domestic distribution chief Jeff Goldstein. 
 
 Helmed by veteran producer Denise Di Novi in her feature directorial debut, Unforgettable, placing No. 7, stars Heigl as a jilted woman whose jealousy of her ex-husband's new wife turns pathological. Rosario Dawson and Geoff Stults also star. 
 
 If there's any solace, it is that the film only cost $12 million to make. 
 
 The same can't be said for Armenian genocide drama The Promise, directed by Terry George and starring Christian Bale alongside Oscar Isaac. The big-budget movie bowed to $4.1 million from 2,251 theaters after costing a hefty $100 million to produce. The pic was fully financed by the late Kirk Kerkorian, who was of Armenian descent. 
 
 Open Road is handling The Promise domestically. The filmmakers say the movie has succeeded in raising awareness about the Armenian genocide regardless of its box-office performance, and that a $20 million donation will help create The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law. 
 
 The two other new films, action-comedy Free Fire and sci-fi thriller Phoenix Forgotten, had smaller footprints than their brethren but still disappointed. 
 
 Phoenix Forgotten, coming in at No. 11 with $2 million from 1,592 cinemas, tells the story of three teenagers who disappear after trying to solve the mystery behind the 1997 UFO phenomenon knows as the Phoenix Lights. Ridley Scott, Wes Ball, Courtney Solomon and Mark Canton produced the movie, with Cinelou distributing. 
 
 British helmer Ben Wheatley's Free Fire, a send-up of vintage action movies, grossed $1 million from 1,070 theaters for indie distributor A24. The pic, placing No. 18, stars Brie Larson, Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Cillian Murphy and Jack Reynor. 
 
 Among other specialty fare, Fox Searchlight's Gifted crossed $10 million after earning another $4.5 million from 1,986 theaters. 
 
 James Grey's The Lost City of Z expanded into a total of 614 theaters in its second weekend, earning $2.1 million to place No. 10. ||||| 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.
– Katherine Heigl suffered the worst opening weekend of her career as audiences forgot in droves to go see Unforgettable, but still managed to come out ahead of Christian Bale's latest, the apparently controversial The Promise. Per the Hollywood Reporter, Fate of the Furious again came out on top, with another $38.6 million on the heap. The Boss Baby continued to coo with another $12.75 million and second place, while Beauty and the Beast took third and $9.98 million, reports Box Office Mojo. Born in China zipped to No. 4 with $5.1 million. But the real debut disasters were Unforgettable with $4.8 million and seventh place, and The Promise with $4.1 million and ninth. Adding particular insult to Bale's injury was the $100 million price tag of his film; Unforgettable, meanwhile, cost a much more attainable $12 million to make, notes the Reporter. These are the biggest box-office disasters of all time.)