Box Office Report: Smaug’s fire is Frozen by Disney

Disney’s Frozen has continued its world domination this past weekend by taking the top spot at the Australian box office away from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. It is always impressive when a film that didn’t debut in the top spot reaches #1, and Frozen could remain there for another week at least. Both The Book Thief and Saving Mr. Banks had impressive debuts over $2 million. Animated turkey movie Free Birds had an average start, but is more commendable when considering that it was entering a marketplace that already holds a huge animated hit in Frozen.  

This week sees the release of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, a reboot of the Tom Clancy character starring Chris Pine. The film should be popular with young people looking for a brainless action film, and Pine has shown himself to be an impressive lead in the Star Trek films. On the other hand, veterans Kevin Costner and Kenneth Branagh might be able to pull in some more mature viewers. Also releasing this week is the greatly anticipated Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a man who falls in love with the operating system on his new computer, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. The film, directed by Spike Jonze, has been a critical success in the US and should pull in the art house crowds, particularly after winning the Golden Globe for Best Original Screenplay over the weekend.

In the US over the past weekend, Lone Survivor, a war film starring Mark Wahlberg, opened to strong reviews and took first place on the chart with an impressive $37.85 million.Frozen continued its incredible run by adding another $14.73 million. The film now sits at $712 million worldwide, and is nowhere near done yet. It is a huge triumph for Disney. The other new release for the weekend, The Legend of Hercules, opened to an unimpressive $8.86 million and is unlikely to hang around on the chart for long.

Lone Survivor has its Australian release on January 23rd, and The Legend of Hercules will be released on February 27th.

All figures from The Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia and Box Office Mojo.

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