Moviegoers beat the holiday rush at the box office last night, shelling out $1.4M to MGM/New Line’s Creed which Warner Bros. is distributing. The studio is calling this an industry record for Tuesday night previews during Thankgiving week.

The previous Tuesday night champs during Turkey week were Frozen at $1.2M and Horrible Bosses 2 at $1M.

Disney/Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur was also big, generating $1.3M from 7 PM shows last night, beating the $1.2M made by Frozen in previews, and behind Big Hero 6‘s $1.4M Thursday night start last year during the first frame of November. The film is on course to make $60M-$65M over five days and $45M over FSS. B.O. analysts believe Liongate’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2 will likely have the upper hand over three-days with at least $50M, but could dip to second over five-days. The Good Dinosaur carries a production price tag that’s under $200M.

Also getting an early start was 20th Century Fox’s Victor Frankenstein which grossed $175K from 2,100 locations. The film’s estimated production cost is $40M. The film stars James McAvoy as Dr. Frankenstein and Daniel Radcliffe as Igor, the latter who recounts the story from his p.o.v.

Katniss chalked up an estimated $11.3M in the No. 1 spot, +33% over Monday. Through five days, MJ2 stands at $122.5M, still $20.5M behind MJ1. Today, MJ2 will bust $300M at the global box office. Other titles filing behind MJ2 last night were Fox’s The Peanuts Movie in second with $2.2M ($103.2M cume), Sony/MGM/Eon’s Spectre with $2.185M ($157.9M), Sony’s The Night Before with $1.5M in fourth ($12.6M) and STX/IM Global’s The Secret In Their Eyes in fifth with $805K ($8M cume).

The momentum from last night is expected to continue today as close to 100% of kids are off from college and K-12 school. Grosses typically ease on Thanksgiving Day, then surge on Black Friday. I’m told that there’s no correlation between retail sales rung up on that particular day and box office grosses; it’s just a day when everyone is out and they find time to make it to the cinema after shopping.

In a Fandango Buzzindicator poll, moviegoers responded that The Good Dinosaur was on top of their list of choices this weekend, followed by M2, Creed, Victor Frankenstein and Spectre.

In Creed, Rocky Balboa is a supporting player and retired, training the son of his former boxing opponent/trainer Apollo Creed. This spin-off was conceived by Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler, and he brought his own personal inspiration and love for the boxing series into the new film. The Rocky franchise made a home for itself during the Thanksgiving frame with the first installment in 1976, followed by sequels Rocky IV and V which also played during the holiday stretch. 2006’s Rocky Balboa was the last title in the MGM series and it opened over the pre-Christmas frame to $26.7M over five-days and a final cume of $70.3M. However, there’s a special word of mouth percolating around Creed. The film has a glowing Rotten Tomatoes score of 94%, which will dynamite those adults out of their post-Thanksgiving dinner naps. Creed‘s estimated production cost is $37M-$38M with MGM covering 50% of that, WB/New Line 37.5% and RatPac 12.5%. Currently, Creed is expected to ring up $35M over five-days and a FSS in the $20M range, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it beats those figures.