'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' Exceeds 'Frozen' and Tops American Box Office

After only three days from its release in American theaters, ' The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' earned $73.6 million, meeting expectations set before its release and topping the American box office, replacing the animated ' Frozen', which reached the position last week.

Desolation of Smaug is the second installment in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy, which tells an earlier part of The Lord of the Rings' story.

The film's opening is the fourth biggest in the history of December releases, coming after its prequel ' The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' which was released last December and earned $84.6 million in its first week, and 'I Am Legend' which opened to $77.2 million, and the $77 million ' Avatar'.

Frozen, which stepped back to number two, has added $22.1 million to its total gross, while ' A Madea Christmas' collected $16 million, with which it managed to reach number three in its first week. A Madea is a comedy lead and directed by Tyler Perry.

'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' landed at the fourth position this week, with a 49.8% drop in its grossing rate, after earning $13.1 million. The comics-based ' Thor: The Dark World' came next with$2.7 million.

'Out of the Furnace' landed at sixth position, three places behind last week, earning $2.3 million, with ' Delivery Man'coming behind it with $1.8 million.

The British film 'Philomena', starring Judi Dench, advanced to number eight with $1.7 million, while ' The Book Thief' stepped back to number nine with $1.6 million. ' Homefront' came last, with $1.6 million.