'Hobbit' takes in $73m at box office - Irish Examiner

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Undaunted hobbits have trumped princess power at cinemas around the world.

By Jessica Herndon

Per studio estimates that Warner Bros’ Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was number one at the US weekend box office with $73.7m (€53.6m), besting last weekend’s number one film, Disney’s Frozen.

Melting down to the number two spot, Frozen earned $22.2m in its third weekend, bringing its impressive overall total to nearly $164.4m.

Despite its first place position, The Desolation of Smaug fell short of topping its prequel’s debut.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which opened this same weekend last year, gained $84.6m. It earned $131.2m in international sales.

Lionsgate’s Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas came third place with $16.2m. Another Lionsgate film, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, earned $13.2m for the fourth place slot. To date, Catching Fire has grossed $739.9m, surpassing the worldwide box office total for The Hunger Games, which brought in $691m.

Disney’s super hero sequel, Thor: The Dark World, continues to thrive as it remained in the top five with $2.7m, bringing its domestic total to $198.1m.

In its second weekend, Relativity Media’s redemption drama Out of the Furnace, starring Christian Bale and Casey Affleck, dropped to the sixth place position with $2.3m after opening in the third place slot.

Disney’s comedy Delivery Man, with Vince Vaughn as the lead, dropped in at number seven in its fourth weekend at the box office with $1.9m, bringing its domestic total to $28m.

Philomena, starring Judi Dench, who received a best-actress Golden Globe Awards nomination for her performance as a nun in search of her son, landed in the number eight spot with $1.8m.

In its sixth weekend at the box office, Fox’s Nazi Germany-set The Book Thief, starring Emily Watson, Geoffrey Rush, and Sophie Nelisse, held the ninth position with $1.7m.

Coming in at number 10 was the Jason Statham and James Franco-starring crime thriller Homefront, which gained $1.6m in its third weekend. Its total domestic gross is now $18.4m.

Opening in limited release in just six locations, David O Russell’s con artist tale, American Hustle, scored $690,000 over the weekend. This aces the success of his Oscar-winning film Silver Linings Playbook, which saw $27,687 during its opening weekend in Dec 2012.

American Hustle, featuring Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, and Jennifer Lawrence, has been nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.