LOS ANGELES, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Disney's tentpole "Frozen 2" easily maintained its reign for the third weekend in a row, collecting 34.67 million U.S. dollars for a North American cume of 337.6 million dollars.
The animated fantasy is the third film so far this year to win the North American box office for three consecutive weekends, behind Universal's superhero thriller "Glass" and Disney's superhero film "Avengers: Endgame."
Internationally, the film brought in 90.2 million dollars in 45 territories for a global third weekend of 124.9 million dollars and a global cume to date of 919.7 million dollars, according to studio figures collected by measurement firm Comscore.
"Frozen 2" arrived six years after the original "Frozen." The film features the return of the Academy Award-winning team -- directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck and the voices of Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Evan Rachel Wood, Josh Gad and Jonathan Groff. It brings back Anna, Elsa, Olaf, and Kristoff, as they venture beyond the kingdom of Arendelle to find out why Elsa was born with magical powers.
"Frozen 2" is on track to be the sixth Disney film this year to hit the coveted 1-billion-dollar mark at the worldwide box office. Disney is already the first studio to have five 1-billion-dollar movies in a year for 2019.
Disney has raked in 9.997 billion dollars to date worldwide and will cross the 10-billion-dollar mark within the next day. It's a new record for the worldwide box office for any studio in a calendar year, far exceeding Disney's own record of 7.61 billion dollars in 2016, according to the deadline, an online news site for entertainment industry news.
Lionsgate's mystery film "Knives Out" came in second with 14.15 million dollars in its second weekend for a North American cume of 63.48 million dollars through Sunday.
Written and directed by Rian Johnson, the film stars Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, and Jamie Lee Curtis, among others. The plot follows a modern-day murder mystery where everyone is a suspect. When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate.
Disney and 20th Century Fox's sports drama film "Ford v Ferrari" landed in third with 6.537 million dollars in its fourth weekend, pushing its North American total to 91.1 million dollars through Sunday.
Directed by James Mangold and starring Oscar winners Matt Damon and Christian Bale, "Ford v Ferrari" is based on the true story of the events surrounding the famous rivalry between Ford Motor Company and Ferrari in 1966. The film follows the visionary American car designer Carroll Shelby and the fearless British-born driver Ken Miles, who together battled corporate interference, the laws of physics, and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary race car for Ford Motor Company and take on the dominating race cars of Ferrari racing team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France.
In the fourth place, Universal's romantic drama film "Queen and Slim" took in 6.53 million dollars in its second weekend for a North American total of 26.89 million dollars.
Directed by Melina Matsoukas in her feature directorial debut and starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith, the R-rated drama follows two young African-Americans who must go on the run after killing a police officer in self-defense in a sudden and tragic conflict.
Sony's drama film "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" finished fifth in its third weekend with 5.2 million dollars for a North American total of 43.12 million dollars. Directed by Marielle Heller and starring Tom Hanks, the film is inspired by the 1998 article "Can You Say ... Hero?" by journalist Tom Junod, published in American magazine Esquire.
