'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. ||||| Weekend Box Office: 'It' Devours Darren Aronofsky's 'mother!' With $60M 
 
 'American Assassin' also beats 'mother!,' an elevated horror film which earned an F CinemaScore and marked the worst wide opening of Jennifer Lawrence's career with $7.5 million. 
 
 Darren Aronofsky's mother! stalled in its domestic box-office debut, grossing an estimated $7.5 million from 2,368 theaters after receiving a rare F CinemaScore and facing competition from the blockbuster It. 
 
 mother!, an elevated psychological horror-thriller, supplanted The House at the End of the Street ($12.3 million) to mark the lowest nationwide launch of Jennifer Lawrence's career. The Paramount title, which costed $30 million to produce, came in No. 3 over the weekend behind It and new offering American Assassin. (In a sign that summer is over, all three titles are rated R.) 
 
 Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema's It continued to make history in its second weekend, declining a scant 51 percent to $60 million from 4,103 theaters, the biggest sophomore outing ever for a horror title. The pic is the latest commercial horror title to prosper following Annabelle: Creation, Get Out and Split in a huge boost for the genre. 
 
 It has already achieved numerous milestones. In its first 10 days, the film adaptation of Stephen King's novel has earned $218.7 million domestically, passing Get Out ($175.5 million) to become the No. 2 R-rated horror film of all time behind 1973's The Exorcist, not accounting for inflation. And it's already the top-grossing September release in history. At this pace, It will finish its North American run with north of $300 million. 
 
 It is also scaring up big numbers overseas, grossing $60.3 million in its second weekend from 56 markets for a foreign tally of $152.6 million and a stunning $371.3 million worldwide against a $35 million budget. Highlights included a record-breaking horror opening of $13.8 million in Mexico. 
 
 In North America, It is a needed balm after a troubling summer box-office season. Thanks to the film's performance, the year-over-year revenue decline has narrowed from nearly 7 percent to 5 percent. 
 
 CBS Films and Lionsgate's American Assassin placed No. 2 with a solid $14.8 million from 3,154 theaters, on par with Lionsgate's 2014 action pic John Wick ($14.4 million). The movie cost a net $33 million to make. 
 
 Directed by Michael Cuesta, American Assassin stars Dylan O'Brien as a CIA operative who teams with a veteran agent (Michael Keaton) to stop terrorists from starting a world war. The film, also featuring Sanaa Lathan, Shiva Negar and Taylor Kitsch, is based on late author Vince Flynn's novel of the same name and earned a B+ CinemaScore from audiences. 
 
 Heading into the weekend, American Assassin held only a slight edge over mother! according to tracking. But throughout the weekend, mother! continued to slip. 
 
 Getting slapped with an F CinemaScore on Friday didn't help matters (only a dozen or so movies have ever received the failing grade) for mother! The movie skewed older, with 52 percent of the audience over the age of 35, including 22 percent over 50. Comps to Aronofsky's previous prestige films, including 2010's Black Swan, are tough since they launched in select theaters before expanding, prompting some to question why Paramount opened mother! nationwide. 
 
 From a script by Aronofsky, mother! is an allegorical tale about a married couple named mother (Lawrence) and Him (Bardem) whose tranquil existence is tested when two mysterious strangers — man (Ed Harris) and woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) — show up at their country Victorian home to meet Bardem's character, a poet gripped by writer's block. 
 
 "This movie is very audacious and brave. You are talking about a director at the top of his game, and an actress at the top her game. They made a movie that was intended to be bold," says Paramount worldwide president of marketing and distribution Megan Colligan. "Everyone wants original filmmaking, and everyone celebrates Netflix when they tell a story no one else wants to tell. This is our version. We don't want all movies to be safe. And it's okay if some people don't like it." 
 
 mother! opened to $6 million overseas from its first 16 markets. It placed third in France with $1.3 million, followed by a third-place finish in the U.K. with $1.1 million and a second-place finish in Russia with $1.1 million. 
 
 The $30 million pic made its world premiere earlier this month at the Venice Film Festival before screening at the Toronto International Film Festival to generally good reviews, with a current fresh score of 68 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics, however, were divided in their reaction, and audiences, even more so. 
 
 Home Again, a romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon from first-time director Hallie Meyers-Shyer, placed No. 4 with an estimated $5.3 million for a muted 10-day domestic total of $17.1 million for Open Road Films. The movie declined a narrow 38 percent. 
 
 Lionsgate's The Hitman's Bodyguard rounded out the top five with an estimated $3.6 million, passing the $70 million mark in its fifth weekend. The action comedy stars Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson. 
 
 At the specialty box office, filmmaker Mike White's Brad's Status, starring Ben Stiller, Michael Sheen, Jenna Fischer, Luke Wilson and Austin Abrams, scored the top location average of any film when earning $100,000 from four theaters in New York and Los Angeles for a screen average of $25,000. The Amazon Studios' dramedy is the second release from Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures and made its premiere at TIFF. The story follows a an anxious father who takes his son on a tour of New England colleges. 
 
 Overseas, Fox's War for the Planet of the Apes made headlines in China, where it opened to a strong $62.3 million despite competition from Spider-Man: Homecoming. War for the Planet of the Apes came in 42 percent ahead of the last film in the franchise and 20 percent ahead of Logan. The threequel's foreign total stands at $287.9 million for a worldwide cume of $433.7 million. 
 
 Spider-Man: Homecoming, from Sony and Marvel Studios, tumbled 79 percent in China to $14.7 million for a 10-day cume of $105 million in the Middle Kingdom and worldwide haul of $861.3 million. (Such declines can be commonplace in China.) 
 
 Universal's American Made, starring Tom Cruise, continued its foreign rollout ahead of its Sept. 29 domestic launch, earning another $12 million from 53 territories for a cume of $48.8 million, including a $1.9 million debut in South Korea and $1.8 million from France.
– 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.)