US box office: ‘Frozen 2’ remains victorious, ‘Playmobil’ bombs

LOS ANGELES — "Frozen 2" dominated box office charts for the third weekend in a row as Disney's animated sequel scored another $34.7 million in North America.

Those ticket sales, a 60% decline from its massive Thanksgiving haul, boost its domestic tally to $337 million. "Frozen 2" earned $130 million in its inaugural outing and another $123 million the following weekend, cementing new high-water marks for Disney Animation.

It's now the third movie this year behind Universal's "Glass" and Disney's "Avengers: Endgame" to win the box office for three consecutive weekends.

Overseas, "Frozen 2" continues to enchant moviegoers as the fantasy follow-up powers to the $1 billion mark at the global box office. It brought in $90 million internationally this weekend, powering box office receipts to $920 million globally.

Frozen 2" is expected to join the billion-dollar club soon and will be the sixth Disney film this year to hit that milestone.

The only new film to movie theater marquees this weekend was STX's "Playmobil," a cartoon based on the European children's toys.

Since "Frozen 2" is still enticing ticket buyers with young kids and the plastic toy company is relatively unknown compared to a brand like Lego (which Warner Bros. successfully mined into multiple feature films), "Playmobil" sputtered in spectacular fashion.

The animated adventure collected just $811,000 from 2,337 theaters in what is one of the worst nationwide opening weekends of all time. Unless the movie resonates in a big way at the international box office—where it has generated $12.5 million to date—the $75-million film stands to be a major money loser for co-financiers Wild Bunch, Pathe, Dimitri Rassam and the Paris-based On Animation. Lucky for STX, the company only paid to distribute the movie and doesn't have a financial stake.

In a distant second place, Lionsgate and Rian Johnson's whodunit "Knives Out" added another $14.5 million in its second weekend of release. The acclaimed murder mystery—starring Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans and Don Johnson—has pocked $63.5 million in North America and a strong $124 million globally to date.

Holdovers rounded out box office charts. Disney-Fox's "Ford v Ferrari" claimed third place, nabbing $6.58 million from 3,746 venues. After a month in theaters, the racing drama with Christian Bale and Matt Damon amassed $91 million at the domestic box office.

Universal's "Queen and Slim" landed at No. 4, bringing in $6.53 million and lifting its North American revenues to $26.8 million. In fifth place, Sony's "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" earned $5.2 million in its third outing. The Mister Rogers film starring Tom Hanks has generated $43.1 million so far. — Reuters/Variety