In its seventh weekend in theaters, Disney’s Frozen recaptured the #1 spot at the box office with $20.7 million. holding off The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and the weekend’s only new wide release, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones.
I don’t know what the record is, but Frozen reclaiming the #1 ranking after three weeks in second and third has got to be one of the few times that’s ever happened, if it ever has happened. The film is doing gangbusters everywhere it’s playing, including adding another $52.5 million to its international total, which is now up to $342 million, and still not having opened in China or Japan. The chance it will $900 million worldwide is certainly a possibility.
As for Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, a “C-” CinemaScore doesn’t bode well for the latest installment, but when we’re talking about a series of films in which each is budgeted at $5 million, when they open with $18.2 million it’s hard not to keep making more. It’s pretty much like printing money. Of course, this is the latest big dip for a sequel in the franchise, a 37% dip in fact from Paranormal Activity 4. It will be interesting, however, to see how Paranormal Activity 5 does when it hits theaters this October, you know, where scary movies like this tend to pull in a little more dough.
Next we have Martin Scorsese‘s The Wolf of Wall Street, which only dropped 26.7% with an estimated $13.4 million, which might suggest all the online bickering has actually raised the film’s profile despite that “C” CinemaScore. Then again, it’s not like it has a stellar opening and that $100 million budget looms large.
Meanwhile, while Inside Llewyn Davis was looked over by both the Producers and Writers Guild, it scored big with the National Society of Film Critics winning not only Best Picture, but Best Actor, Director and Cinematography as well. The film grossed an estimated $1.1 million this weekend in 156 locations, dropping only 6% and bringing its cume to $6.9. It will continue to expand nationwide throughout the month.
Finally, with a $407.4 million cume, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is now only about $2 million away from besting Iron Man 3 as the highest grossing domestic release of 2013.
Next weekend sees the release of, yet again, only one film going wide, that being The Legend of Hercules, which I have still yet to receive a press screening invite for. Could that possibly speak to the film’s quality?
