Every so often, a movie comes along that just goes a magical box office ride. Whether by fortune or destiny, said film defies expectations and does otherworldly numbers at the box office. Most of the time, these crazy runs are during the holiday season. We’ve seen with films like Titanic, Avatar and The Blind Side. This year, we have our own magical box office run, as Frozen continues to amaze.

Frozen

It’s extremely rare, especially in the modern box office era so dominated by one-weekend wonders and big drops, for a film to top the box office on its sixth weekend of wide release. Frozen, after three weekends in second or third, has now reclaimed the top spot on the strength of stellar word of mouth. We’re in the midst of seeing an incredible box office run. Even with the holiday season over, and wintry weather raging across much of the country, Frozen still posted a good hold, 28%, and grossed $20.7 million this weekend.

In addition to the extreme rarity of taking the top spot in week six, Frozen also joined very rarefied company in making over $20 million in its sixth weekend. Only two other films, Avatar and Titanic, have ever done so. Considering those two movies are legendary for their stamina, and both made over $600 million, that gives you an idea of just special a movie Frozen is. The smash hit has now grossed $298 million and the way things are looking, as long as The Nut Job doesn’t steal too much business in two weeks, Frozen has a realistic shot at overtaking Despicable Me 2 for the title of top animated film of the year. Who saw that one coming?

This weekend’s lone debut, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones opened in second with $18.2 million. That’s noticeably lower than the $29 million opening of PA4, but considering how poorly-received PA4 was and the fact that The Marked Ones is a spin-off, I don’t think it opened badly. Plus, the film only cost $5 million to make so it’ll be wildly profitable no matter what.

The Desolation of Smaug finished in third place after dropping 44%. The Hobbit pulled in $16.3 million this weekend, bringing its total to $229.6 million. If Smaug keeps following roughly the pace of its predecessor, it could be looking at a final gross around $265 million. The Wolf of Wall Street bumped up from fifth to fourth, dropping 27%. $13.4 million this weekend gives the movie $63.3 million. Following it is another Oscar hopeful, American Hustle, which dropped 30% to $13.2 million. With $88.7 million in the bank, we could be looking at a final gross around $120 million.

Anchorman: The Legend Continues fell from third to sixth. Down 44%, Ron Burgundy pulled in $11.1 million and has grossed $109.2 million in total. Saving Mr. Banks made $9.1 million this weekend after dropping 33%. It has a $59.3 million total, but Oscar buzz could go a long way toward a potential $100 million run. In eight, Walter Mitty fell 36% and pulled in $8.2 million. A $45.7 million total is definitely disappointing, but I wouldn’t call this an outright flop.

Catching Fire has passed $400 million, with a $407.5 million total via a 27% drop and a $7.4 million gross this weekend. Just two million dollars separate it from Iron Man 3 and becoming the highest grossing film of the year. Finally, after debuting in eleventh last weekend, Grudge Match managed to enter the top ten by holding much better than 47 Ronin. The boxing flick dropped a slim 23% to $5.4 million. Its total is just shy of $25 million.

Well, the first weekend of 2014 is officially in the books and while The Marked Ones didn’t set any records, Frozen continues to be the real story of the box office, and it could continue to be throughout January. Next weekend sees just one wide release, the very generic looking The Legend of Hercules. As always, I’ll be here to report on it. Until we meet again.