‘Frozen’ Chills Competition; Disney Animation Clinches Top Spot At The Box Office

Walt Disney proves once again that it can send moviegoers into a chill when its latest animated movie, "Frozen," nipped its competitors after ruling the box office charts in the U.S. and Canada during the first weekend of the year.

Getting to the top was no mean feat after icing "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" from the first and into the third place after three consecutive runs at the top. The second place went to first-timer "Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones."

According to Reuters, Frozen-which tells the story of the Scandinavian princess who embarked on a search for her missing queen sister-earned $20.7 million in ticket receipts compared to the $18.2 million by the latest spinoff of the Paranormal Activity franchise from Friday until Sunday.

The other films joining the top five are, "The Wolf of Wall Street" which earned $13.4 million and "American Hustle" not far behind at $13.2 million.

Rolling Stone entertainment writer Gary Susman wrote that Frozen achieved three things in ruling the box office once again:

First is that Frozen managed to reclaim the top spot after a month of departing it; second it managed to "outdistance" a strong first-timer in The Marked Ones, which is a rare occasion.

"And it's rarer still for a movie in its sixth week of wide release to earn an estimated $20.7 million; only Avatar and Titanic, in the sixth week of their respective releases, have done better," he wrote.

Frozen is also expected to join a very exclusive list that earned more than $300 million represented in North America sales, with just $3 million shy of joining the magic number. Rolling Stones reported that if the Walt Disney manages to do that, it will join the ranks of "Iron Man 3," "Despicable Me 2" and "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire."