After two weekends Warner Bros, New Line and MGM’s The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug trails the 2012 Hobbit release by approximately 16% at the same stage when adjusted for inflation. Dhoom 3 has become the biggest Bollywood release in North America.

Smaug added an estimated $31.5m to boost the tally after two sessions to $127.5m.

Paramount’s Anchorman 2 (pictured) arrived in second place on $26.8m, some 24% behind the 2004 original when adjusted for inflation. Will Ferrell, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd reprise their roles in the comedy.

Disney’s Frozen at number three surged towards $200m in its fifth weekend as $19.2m pushed the running total to $191.6m.

American Hustle and Saving Mr Banks burst into the top 10. The former climbed 11 places through Sony in the second weekend after expanding from six to 2,507 theatres.

Disney’s Saving Mr Banks leapt 13 places to number five in its second weekend as Buena Vista expanded the theatre count from 15 to 2,110. A further $9.3m propelled the early tally to $9.9m.

BBC Earth and Reliance Entertainment’s 3D family title Walking With Dinosaurs arrived at number eight on a lacklustre $7.3m from 3,231.

Dhoom 3 opened at number nine through Yash Raj Films on $3.3m from 236 to score the biggest North American debut for a Bollywood film. The per-site average amounted to $14,000.

Disney’s Thor: The Dark World crossed $200m to reach $200.8m in its seventh session and ranks tenth.

Philomena slipped three places to number 11 through The Weinstein Company on $1.2m for $13.3m after five weekends, while Inside Llewyn Davis climbed seven places through CBS Films to number 12 after expanding from 15 venues to 148 to gross $1.1m for $2.1m after three.

Spike Jonze’s acclaimed romance Her starring Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson and Amy Adams debuted through Warner Bros on $258,000 from six sites for a dazzling $43,000 average.

SPC released The Past, Asghar Farhadi’s Iranian drama that was omitted from the Academy’s foreign-language shortlist last week, in three venues for $30,900. China Lion opened the comedy Personal Tailor on $104,000 from nine as the Huayi Brothers film generated $24m internationally at the weekend.

Next weekend is Christmas weekend when the wide releases are: Universal’s martial arts spectacle 47 Ronin with Keanu Reeves; Paramount-Red Granite’s The Wolf Of Wall Street from Martin Scorsese starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill; Fox’s The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty directed by Ben Stiller, who stars opposite Kristen Wiig; Warner Bros’ Grudge Match with Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro; and the Justin Bieber concert documentary Believe through Open Road Films.

Estimated Top 10 North America Dec 20-22 2013
Film (Dist) / Est wkd gross / Est total to date

1 (1) The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug (Warner Bros-New Line-MGM) WBPI $31.5m $127.5m

2 (-) Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (Paramount) PPI $26.8m $40m

3 (2) Frozen (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $19.2m $191.6m

4 (15) American Hustle (Sony) Panorama $19.1m $20.2m

5 (18) Saving Mr. Banks (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $9.3m $9.9m

6 (4) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Lionsgate) Lionsgate International $8.8m $371.7m

7 (3) Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas (Lionsgate) Lionsgate International $8.5m$28.3m

8 (-) Walking With Dinosaurs (Fox) Fox International, IM Global $7.3m –

9 (-) Dhoom 3 (Yash Raj Films) $3.3m –

10 (5) Thor: The Dark World (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $1.3m $200.8m

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