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Sunday, January 05, 2014

Box Office Update: Paranormal Activity Spin-Off Gets Frostbite

Wow! Disney's latest animated film Frozen did the impossible at the box office this weekend.  While the Latino-infused Paranormal Activity film series spin-off  flick "Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones" does solid biz in its first frame.  Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" (My review) bests 's American Hustle.





Disney's Frozen continued its remarkable ride at the box office, topping the chart in North America with $20.7 million and skating past the $600 million mark worldwide. The family tentpole, released at Thanksgiving, took in another $52.5 million overseas for a world total of $639.9 million through Sunday.

It's virtually unheard of for a movie to rocket back to No. 1 more than a month into its run (the only other time Frozen placed No. 1 was over the Dec. 6-8 weekend.

Placing No. 2 domestically was the weekend's only new release, Paramount's Latino-themed Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones. The spin-off took in a solid $18.2 million and, like other films, took a slight hit because of bitterly cold weather in the Midwest and snow in the Northeast. Marked Ones opened below any of the Paranormal Activity movies.

Overseas, Marked Ones did strong business, debuting to $16.2 million from 13 markets. Costing $5 million to make, The Marked Ones intends to launch its own franchise. Produced by Jason Blum and Oren Peli, the film stars Andrew Jacobs, Jorge Diaz and Gabrielle Walsh. The pic received a C- CinemaScore, not entirely unusual for a horror film.

Written and directed by Christopher Landon, The Marked Ones explores the effects of demon possession and the cultural history of black magic rituals used to fight it.

For the crowded pack of holdovers, this weekend signaled an end to the lucrative year-end holidays (many people remained off of work and out of school last week).

Warner Bros.' The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug dominated for much of that time before falling to No. 3 this weekend with $16.3 million. The movie's domestic total is $229.6 million.

Paramount and Red Granite Pictures' The Wolf of Wall Street and fellow awards darling Sony's American Hustle -- rounding out the top five -- have both prospered over the holidays, building up sizeable grosses.

From Martin Scorsese, Wolf narrowly beat David O. Russell's American Hustle this weekend, grossing $13.4 million for a 12-day domestic total of $63.2 million (Wolf opened Dec. 25).

Sony's American Hustle, expanding nationwide on Dec. 20, took in $13.2 million for a domestic total of $88.7 million.

It was a good weekend for Paramount all the way around as Will Ferrell comedy Anchorman: The Legend Continues crossed the $100 million domestically (the first film made $85 million all in). Coming in No. 6, the sequel grossed $11.1 million for a North American total of $109.2 million.

Disney's Saving Mr. Banks placed No. 7 with $9.1 million for a pleasing domestic total of of $59.3 million. Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, from 20th Century Fox, followed with $8.2 million for a North American cume of $45.7 million.

November release The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has remained a contender throughout the holiday season. Over the weekend, the Lionsgate sequel came in No. 9 with $7.4 million, pushing its domestic total to $407.5 million. Within days, it will eclipse the $409 million grossed in North America by Iron Man 3 to become the top 2013 release (however, it doesn't stand a chance of overtaking the $1.2 billion earned by Iron Man 3 worldwide).

Warners' holiday comedy Grudge Match and Universal's 47 Ronin continued to falter over the weekend (both opened Dec. 25). Grudge Match came in No. 10 with $5.4 million for a domestic total of $24.9 million.

Placing No. 11, 47 Ronin took in $5 million for a domestic total of $32.6 million. Ronin did see a strong opening in Russia over the weekend, pushing its foreign total to $51.3 million and world total to $83.9 million, although that's still far short of what Universal needs to make up for the film's $175 million budget.


Next Up: Peter Berg's powerful film adaptation of the non-fiction book by Marcus Luttrell called Lone Survivor goes wide; Director uses the buffy to tell The Legend Of Hercules; introduces you to  Her in a very unique love story that is also going wide. and are mother/daughter in August Osage County

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