“Frozen” reclaims top spot at weekend box office

Disney's "Frozen" retook the box office top spot with $20.7 million, freezing out the horror spinoff "Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones" and knocking "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" out of a 3 week run in first place.

According to studio estimates Sunday, Paramount's "The Marked Ones" debuted in second place with $18.2 million, a total that includes Thursday night screenings. The film is a stand-alone story spun off from the lucrative, low-budget horror franchise "Paranormal Activity."

But it wasn't able to overcome Disney's animated "Frozen," which has been a hit for family audiences for the last seven weeks. Warner Bros. The second Hobbit movie in the trilogy came in third with $16.3 million in its fourth week of release.

The extreme winter weather in parts of North America may have tempered the weekend's box-office business.

Top 10 at the Box Office:
1. "Frozen" – $20.7 M
2. "Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones" $18.2 M
3. "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" $16.3 M
4. "The Wolf of Wall Street" $13.4 M
5. "American Hustle" $13.2 M
6. "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" $11.1 M
7. "Saving Mr. Banks" $9.0 M
8. "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" $8.2 M
9. "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" $7.4
10. "Grudge Match" $5.4 M

1. Frozen

2. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

3. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug