By Jake Coyle, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --On a wintry weekend, Disney's "Frozen" retook the box-office top spot with $20.7 million, freezing out the horror spinoff "Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones."
Paramount's "The Marked Ones" debuted in second place with $18.2 million, a total that includes Thursday night screenings, according to studio estimates Sunday. The film is a stand-alone story spun off from the lucrative, low-budget horror franchise "Paranormal Activity," the fifth of which will be released in October.
But it wasn't able to overcome Disney's animated "Frozen," which has been a hit for family audiences for the last seven weeks. It has now surpassed $600 million worldwide, making it the second highest grossing Disney Animation release, behind "The Lion King." It will soon pass that film's $312 million domestic haul, too.
It's extremely rare for a film to lead the box office in its seventh weekend, a feat accomplished by the likes of "Avatar" and, to go further back, "Legends of the Fall." It's rarer still for a film to retake the box-office lead so late in its theatrical run. The last movie to do so was Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" in 2004, according to box-office tracker Rentrak.
Another hold-over, Warner Bros.' "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," came in third with $16.3 million in its fourth week of release after narrowly topping the busy Christmas weekend box office. Like "Frozen," Peter Jackson's second installment of his "Hobbit" trilogy has benefited from the lengthy holiday moviegoing season. Its domestic cumulative total is $229.6 million.
The snow and icy temperatures battering the Midwest and Northeast likely tempered the weekend's box-office business.
"Everyone probably suffered a little bit from the weather," said Don Harris, head of domestic distribution for Paramount. "It looked like no matter what movie it was, it was half a million to a $1 million less on Friday and Saturday than you would have been expecting, just based on what the norms were."
"The Marked Ones," made for just $5 million and starring a largely Hispanic cast, was the lone new wide release in the marketplace, as the large batch of late December releases looked to separate themselves from the pack.
Successes include Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" ($63.3 million in two weeks for Paramount), David O. Russell's acclaimed "American Hustle" ($88.7 million in four weeks for Sony) and the Will Ferrell sequel "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues," (well past $100 million domestically in three weeks for Paramount).
Having a harder time finding audiences are "47 Ronin" starring Keanu Reeves (a $175 million bomb for Universal earning $32.6 million in two weeks), the Robert De Niro-Sylvester Stallone boxing comedy "Grudge Match" ($24.9 million in two weeks for Warner Bros.) and Ben Stiller's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" ($45.7 million in two weeks for 20th Century Fox).
"It's like traffic on the freeway," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Rentrak. "At this level of competition, there are always going to be casualties."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday:
1. "Frozen," $20.7 million ($52 million international).
2. "Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones," $18.2 million ($16.2 million international).
3. "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," $16.3 million ($58 million international).
4. "The Wolf of Wall Street," $13.4 million ($6.3 million international).
5. "American Hustle," $13.2 million ($6.8 million international).
6. "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues," $11.1 million ($5.4 million international).
7. "Saving Mr. Banks," $9.1 million.
8. "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," $8.2 million ($31.5 million international).
9. "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," $7.4 million ($9.1 million international).
10. "Grudge Match," $5.4 million.
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Estimated weekend ticket sales Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:
1. "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," $58 million.
2. "Frozen," $52 million.
3. "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," $31.5 million.
4. "47 Ronin," $20.5 million.
5. "Paranormal Activity," $16.2 million.
6. "Walking With Dinosaurs," $11.3 million.
7. "The Attorney," $10.8 million.
8. "The Physician," $10.5 million.
9. "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," $9.1 million.
10. "4G Theory," $8 million.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More