In its seventh week in theaters, Disney’s “Frozen” has iced the competition to reclaim the top spot at the weekend box office. The film took in a strong $20.7 million to defeat Paramount’s new horror flick “Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones” in its debut week.
“Frozen” continues to perform exceptionally well at the box office when most Hollywood titles would have already been dropped from theaters. After opening with over $67 million the weekend after Thanksgiving, the film consistently earns over $19.5 million every weekend. During the Christmas break “Frozen” earned $28.6 million after seeing a 45% rise in sales over the previous week. Since its release, the film has yet to drop below the top three spots at the box office. “Frozen” has already grossed over $298 million in North America ($640 million worldwide) and shows no signs of slowing down.
Paramount’s supernatural horror film “Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones” debuted in second place with $18.2 million in North America. The film was produced on a meager budget of $5 million and has already recouped all of its production costs. Instead of being called a sequel or remake, “The Marked Ones” is being considered a “cousin” of previous releases from the series. The film features the directorial debut of Christopher Landon for the series, a screenwriter who wrote the scripts for “Paranormal Activity 2”, “3” & “4”. This is also the first time the series has primarily targeted a Hispanic audience with the story line, which seems to be paying off. “The Marked Ones” earned an additional $16.2 million in sales from foreign markets, bringing its worldwide total to over $34 million.
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” dropped down to third place after reigning king of the box office last weekend. The film continues to perform well, bringing in $16.25 million in its fourth week. To date, “Smaug” has earned over $229 million in North America and an additional $527 million in overseas markets.
In its second week, Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” has overtaken “American Hustle” for the battle of fourth place with $13.4 million. After taking fifth last week, the film has flipped places with “American Hustle” after earning just $200,000 more than the competition.
Top Films at the Weekend Box Office: January 3-5, 2014
- “Frozen” – $20.7 million
- “Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones” – $18.2 million
- “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” – $16.25 million
- “The Wolf of Wall Street” – $13.4 million
- “American Hustle” – $13.2 million
- “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” – $11.1 million
- “Saving Mr. Banks” – $9.1 million
- “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” – $8.2 million
- “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” – $7.4 million
- “Grudge Match” – $5.4 million
