‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ destroyed the competition this weekend at the box office by bringing in $73 million and claiming the top spot. Despite the film having great reviews, the sequel to ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey‘ couldn’t best its predecessor which took in $84.6 million in the same week last year. Less than perfect winter weather that plagued the country last week could be why the film didn’t do as well as the studio hoped.
Disney’s animated flick ‘Frozen’ melted and slipped to the second position earning another $22.2 million and bringing its domestic total to an impressive $164.4 million.
‘Tyler Perry’s: A Madea Christmas’ came in third by taking in $16.2 million also falling short of studio predictions. The film had a budget of $25 million and should do well in the long run.
Still burning is ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ which took in another $13.2 million. The Jennifer Lawrence juggernaut has grossed over $737 million worldwide and has passed the worldwide gross of its predecessor.
Rounding out the top five is Marvel’s ‘Thor: The Dark World’ which earned $2.7 million.
Smaug will have some tough competition next week as he takes on Ron Burgandy and his team of news reporters as ‘Anchorman 2’ hits theaters on Wednesday.
