‘Frozen’ warms up North American movie-goers

“FROZEN”. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

LOS ANGELES – Disney animated musical “Frozen” claimed top spot at the North American box office this weekend, deposing the latest instalment of “The Hobbit” fantasy trilogy, estimates showed Sunday.

A loosely based retelling of a Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, “Frozen” added another $20.7 million in earnings, taking its seven-week haul in the United States and Canada to just under $298 million.

In second place was horror film “Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones,” the fifth movie of the hugely successful franchise which opened with $18.2 million, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations reported.

The “Paranormal Activity” franchise has earned more than $750 million worldwide since the original low-budget film, made for just $15,000, took the box office by storm in 2009.

Last week’s top dog, “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”, fell to third spot with $16.3 million.

The second part of director Peter Jackson’s trilogy of films, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved classic, has earned $229.6 million to date in North America.

In fourth spot was Martin Scorsese’s latest collaboration with actor Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” earning $13.4 million in its second weekend.

The movie is based on the debauched rise and fall of disgraced Wall Street financier Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio), who conned his way to hundreds of millions in the 1990s while maintaining a notoriously drug-fuelled lifestyle.

Critically acclaimed comedy “American Hustle” – starring Christian Bale and Amy Adams as grifters who team up with an FBI agent, played by Bradley Cooper, to bring down other con artists – was fifth with $13.2 million.

In sixth place was “Anchorman 2,” the Will Ferrell comedy which sees him reprise his role as screwball newsman Ron Burgundy. The sequel took $11.1 million in its third week of release.

Seventh was taken by “Saving Mr. Banks,” a drama about Walt Disney’s quest to make a film adaptation of Mary Poppins, with $9.1 million.

Its stars – Tom Hanks as Disney and Emma Thompson as Poppins’ anti-Hollywood author – have both been nominated for Golden Globes.

In eighth was Ben Stiller’s romantic comedy “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” an updated adaptation of James Thurber’s famous 1939 short story, about a strait-laced office worker who loses himself in heroic daydreams.

The film, which stars Stiller in the lead role, took $8.2 million.

In ninth place was the second film in the blockbuster “Hunger Games” franchise with $7.4 million, taking its overall earnings to $407.5 million in North America alone.

In 10th was “Grudge Match,” a comedy seeing Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro play geriatric former boxers who agree to climb into the ring one last time to settle a feud.

The movie – nicknamed “Aging Bull” by one critic – took $5.4 million.