Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug debuts at the top of the box office charts this weekend, with Disney's Frozen coming in second place.
Produced by New Line Cinema, MGM and Warner Bros., The Desolation of Smaug had the fourth-biggest December opening ever, behind An Unexpected Journey ($84.6 million), I Am Legend ($77.2 million) and Avatar ($77 million). Based on J.R.R. Tolkien's 1937 fantasy novel, the adventure film follows hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) as he travels with a group of dwarfs to face off against the dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch). Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Lee Pace and Luke Evans co-star.
Coming in second place is Disney’s animated feature Frozen, which brought in $22.2 million on its third weekend at the box office for a domestic total of $164.4 million. Overseas, Frozen added $31.5 million for a worldwide total of $266 million.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, now in its fourth week, grossed $13.15 million for the number four spot and a North American total of $357 million. Internationally, the hit sequel grossed $19.5 million, bringing the overseas total to $372.9 million. The film’s worldwide total is now at $739.9 million, surpassing the lifetime worldwide box office for the first film, The Hunger Games ($691 million).
Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World came in fifth place over its sixth week at the North American box office. Starring Chris Hemsworth, the action feature made $2.7 million for a domestic total of $198.1 million. Worldwide the film has made $619.9 million to date.
Disney's Saving Mr. Banks also opened in limited release this weekend, bringing in $421,000 from 16 venues. The biopic expands into wide release next week.
Box office numbers were obtained on boxofficemojo.com.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
