The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug held firm at number one in its third session to see out the holiday period as The Wolf Of Wall Street arrived in fifth place on a mediocre $18.5m over three days.

Overall box office climbed 35% on last weekend and gained 13% on the same session of 2012 when The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey held on to number one for the third consecutive weekend.

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug brought in a further estimated $29.9m to raise the tally to $190.3m.

Red Granite’s The Wolf Of Wall Street is distributed in the US through Paramount and arrived in 2,537 theatres. Universal acquired a raft of territories from Red Granite International.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as stockbroker Jordan Belfort, whose flamboyant rise and fall inspired the film. Martin Scorsese directs the film and Jonah Hill also stars.

Ben Stiller directed Fox’s The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty and stars opposite Kristen Wiig. The romantic adventure opened at number seven on $13m from 2,909 over the three-day portion of the weekend.

Universal launched the Keanu Reeves martial arts adventure 47 Ronin at number nine on a disappointing $9.9m from 2,689.

The comedy Grudge Match starring Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro opened through Warner Bros at number 11 on a weak $7.3 from 2,838. The Justin Bieber documentary Believe arrived through Open Road at number 14 on a poor $2m from 1,037 sites.

In the limited release arena, TWC debuted the ensemble family drama August: Osage County starring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Chris Cooper on $179,500 from five theatres for a strong $35,900 average.

Universal unleashed the true-life Navy SEAL story Lone Survivor starring Mark Wahlberg on $92,500 from two venues for a formidable $46,250 average. LA-based Foresight Unlimited played a part in structuring the financing and handled international sales.

SPC opened its Charles Dickens drama The Invisible Woman directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes on $37,100 from three venues.

Next weekend’s wide release is Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones through Paramount.

Estimated Top 10 North America Dec 27-29 2013
Film (Dist) / Est wkd gross / Est total to date

1 (1) The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug (Warner Bros-New Line, MGM) WBPI $29.9m $190.3m

2 (3) Frozen (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $28.8m $248.4m

3 (2) Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (Paramount) PPI $20.2m $83.7m

4 (4) American Hustle (Sony) Panorama $19.6m $60m

5 (-) The Wolf Of Wall Street (Paramount) Red Granite International $18.5m $34.3m

6 (5) Saving Mr Banks (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $14m $37.8m

7 (-) The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (Fox) Fox International $13m $25.6m

8 (6) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Lionsgate) Lionsgate International $10.2m $399.1m

9 (-) 47 Ronin (Universal) UPI $9.9m $20.6m

10 (7) Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas (Lionsgate) Lionsgate International $7.4m $43.7m