Frozen tops box office as Saving Mr Banks opens

Disney movie Frozen overhauled The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug to claim top spot in the Australian box office this weekend, with the animation taking $3.13m across 460 screens to the Peter Jackson epic’s $2.959m on 575 screens.

New release The Book Thief was third with $2.427m in its first weekend across 241 screens, narrowly ahead of Australian producer Ian Collie’s Saving Mr Banks, the tale of how author P.L Banks was courted by Walt Disney for 20 years for the rights to her book Mary Poppins, which pulled in $2.257m on 272 screens.

The Hobbit has now grossed over $31m in its three weeks since launching, with only The Hunger Games: Catching Fire making more of any top 20 film with $38m, and the $470,471 from this weekend putting it in 13th place.