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Box Office Report: 'Hobbit' Holds off 'Wolf' on Christmas Day

Five new nationwide releases reached theaters on Christmas Day, though none were quite strong enough to take first place away from Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Five new nationwide releases reached theaters on Christmas Day, though none were quite strong enough to take first place away from Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

The Desolation of Smaug took in $9.32 million for Warner Bros., New Line and MGM, almost 20 percent shy of the first installment’s holiday take of $11.2 million. Through 13 days in theaters, the second entry in the prequel trilogy has grossed just shy of $150 million.

Among new releases, Paramount’s The Wolf of Wall Street led the way with $9.15 million, coming in second place. The studio’s comedy sequel Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues took third place, taking in $8.1 million for total earnings of $56.7 million.

Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty brought distributor Fox $7.8 million for its debut. Produced by Stiller and Executive Producer Gore Verbinski, the fantasy film also stars Kristen Wiig, Sean Penn, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn and Shirley MacLaine.

Columbia Picture’s American Hustle rounded out the top five with $7.4 million. Through less than a week in nationwide release, David O. Russell's acclaimed ensemble piece has grossed $34.1 million.

Universal's long-delayed, very expensive samurai feature 47 Ronin opened in sixth place with $7 million.

In seventh place, Disney Animation’s Frozen added $6.3 million on Christmas Day. To date, the animated hit has earned $210.4 million at the domestic box office.

Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks came in eighth place, taking in $5.1 million for a domestic total of $19.1 million. The biopic, which stars Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers, cost a reported $35 million to produce.

Box office numbers were obtained on boxofficemojo.com.

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.