‘Hobbit' is weekend's box office champ with $73.7M

LOS ANGELES -- Undaunted hobbits trumped princess power at the multiplex.

Per studio estimates Sunday, Warner Bros. "Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" was No. 1 at the weekend box office with $73.7 million, besting last weekend's No. 1 film, Disney's animated fable "Frozen."

Melting down to the No. 2 position, "Frozen" earned $22.2 in its third weekend, bringing its impressive overall domestic ticket total to nearly $164.4 million.

Despite its first place position, "Hobbit" fell short of topping its prequel's debut. "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," which opened this same weekend last year, gained $84.6 million.

"'Hobbit' rules this date and Warner Bros. has linked this brand to this time of year very effectively," said box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Rentrak.

"We had an excellent weekend," said Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros. "Of course, it could have been a little better, but the weather back East was really tough last night and probably took a couple million dollars out of my pocket. But our box office will survive. We are right on target to do very similar numbers to the last ‘Hobbit,' which grossed a $1 billion worldwide (overall)."

Lionsgate's holiday-themed "Tyler Perry's a Madea Christmas" came in third place with $16.2 million.

"All of the Tyler Perry movies have done in that $20 million-plus range, but the weather was a factor in some of the performances of these films," said Dergarabedian.

Another Lionsgate film, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," earned $13.2 million for the fourth place slot. To date "Catching Fire" has grossed $739.9 million, surpassing the worldwide box office total for "The Hunger Games," which brought in $691 million.

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

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 $2.3 million after opening in the third place slot.

Disney's comedy "Delivery Man," with Vince Vaughn as the lead, dropped in at No. 7 in its fourth weekend at the box office with $1.9 million, bringing its domestic total to $28 million.

The Weinstein Co.'s "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 No. 8 spot at the weekend box office with $1.8 million.

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 $1.7 million.

Coming in at No. 10 was the Jason Statham and James Franco-starring Open Road crime thriller "Homefront," which gained $1.6 million in its third weekend. Its total domestic gross is now $18.4 million.

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 December of 2012. "American Hustle," featuring stellar performances by Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence, has been nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild nominations.

With just a few weeks left in the year for moviegoers to populate the multiplex, the wide selection of impressive films fares well for eclipsing 2012's $10.8 billion box office record, said Dergarabedian.

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The top 10 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Monday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak, are:

1."Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," $73.7 million.

2."Frozen," $22.2 million.

3."Tyler Perry's a Madea Christmas," $16 million.

4."Hunger Games: Catching Fire," $13.2 million.

5."Thor: The Dark World," $2.7 million.

6."Out of the Furnace," $2.3 million.

7."Delivery Man," $1.9 million.

8."Philomena," "$1.8 million.

9."The Book Thief," $1.7 million.

10."Homefront," $1.6 million.

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

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