'Smaug' Wins the Weekend, Falls Short of First 'Hobbit'

Before "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" was released last week, critics weighed in and pronounced this second "Hobbit" move superior to its predecessor. Audiences over the weekend weren't as excited about the second movie in the trilogy, however, and "Smaug" took in considerably less than the first "Hobbit" did in its opening weekend.

That's not to say that "Smaug" had a bad weekend. The movie grossed $73.6 million domestically and easily won first place in the box-office race for the week. Its gross was only 87% of what "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" took in a year ago, though.

Observers had expected that "Smaug" wouldn't do as well as the first movie, but most predictions had "Smaug" grossing closer to $80 million over the weekend. The diminishing interest in the trilogy could be a sign that audiences are not thrilled with the decision to stretch Tolkein's relatively short book into a three-movie franchise by padding it with extraneous material and new characters.

Second place this weekend went to "Frozen"; the animated film has taken in $164.7 million through four weeks. In third place was "A Madea Christmas," with $16 million in ticket sales. That's a weak opening for any Tyler Perry film, and it was especially unimpressive when compared to other films in the "Madea" franchise.