Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues hit theaters this week (read Devan’s review), and while the movie has been compared to Crank 2 and The Avengers, it was not enough to overtake The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug for the weekend box office crown. The cult status of the original Anchorman movie was able to help the sequel reach $26.7 million for the weekend, which was only good enough for second place.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug made an estimated $31.4 million in its second weekend, to grow its domestic gross to an impressive $127.5 million overall. With its foreign take added in, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug sits at a nice $403.8 million.
Disney’s Frozen dropped to third place in the weekend box office with an estimated $19.3 million while American Hustle jumped into the Top 5 as it widens its release, with a nice $19.1 million.
Here’s the complete weekend box office breakdown:
Weekend Box Office
| Position | Title | Weekend | Total |
| 1 | The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug | $31.4M | $127.5M |
| 2 | Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues | $26.7 | $40.0 |
| 3 | Frozen | $19.1 | $191.5 |
| 4 | American Hustle | $19.1 | $20.2 |
| 5 | Saving Mr. Banks | $9.3 | $9.9 |
| 6 | The Hunger Games: Catching Fire | $8.7 | $371.7 |
| 7 | Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas | $8.5 | $28.2 |
| 8 | Walking with Dinosaurs | $7.3 | $7.3 |
| 9 | Dhoom 3 | $3.3 | $3.3 |
| 10 | Thor: The Dark World | $1.3 | $200.7 |
Next weekend sees the Christmas releases of 47 Ronin, Grudge Match, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Wolf of Wall Street.
Weekend box office estimates courtesy of Box Office Mojo