‘The Hobbit’ Tops U.S. Box Office

Warner Bros.’ “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” remained ruler of the U.S. box office on the day after Christmas with an estimated $10.5 million, followed by Disney’s family toon “Frozen” at $8.8 million.

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“Smaug,” which won on Christmas Day with $9.3 million, has now topped $160 million domestically in two weeks while “Frozen” is near $220 million in five weeks. On Thursday, “Frozen” jumped 36% from Christmas Day.

In more movie news: Holdovers dominated the top spots with Paramount’s “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” snagging the third slot with an estimated $7 million for a nine-day cume of $63.7 million. The studio’s second day of “The Wolf of Wall Street” followed with $6.4 million, off 30% from its opening day, for a $15.6 million cume.

Sony’s “American Hustle” finished fifth with $ 6.1 million to lift its two-week total to $40 million. Fox’s second day of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” took sixth with $5 million, down 37%, followed by Disney’s “Saving Mr. Banks” with $4.6 million for a two-week total of nearly $24 million.

Universal’s second day of troubled tentpole “47 Ronin” slid 48% to $3.7 million for a two-day cume of $10.7 million. The studio has confirmed that it’s already taken a writedown of an undisclosed magnitude to cover losses from the Keanu Reeves starrer, which carries a $175 million price tag.

Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” grossed $3 million in its 35th day, showing the tentpole still has plenty of pull among moviegoers. The domestic total has hit $381 million, or less than $30 million behind the final U.S. cume for “The Hunger Games” of $409 million — also the Stateside total for Disney/Marvel’s “Iron Man 3,” the top 2013 domestic grosser.

Warner’s second day of boxing comedy “Grudge Match” took a dive, falling 48% to $2.1 million. And Open Road’s second day of concert film “Justin Bieber’s Believe” stayed soft and slid 16% to $1 million.

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