‘Ride Along’ No. 1 for third week

LOS ANGELES (AP) — With Super Bowl XLVII weekend in full swing, "Ride Along" remained strong, steering Universal Pictures into the No. 1 slot in a surprising three-week takeover at the box office.

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — With Super Bowl XLVII weekend in full swing, “Ride Along” remained strong, steering Universal Pictures into the No. 1 slot in a surprising three-week takeover at the box office.

Topping multiplex sales since setting a January debut record when opening over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend with $48.6 million, the buddy cop comedy, starring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube, made $12.3 million, as it nears a $100 million domestic total, according to studio estimates Sunday.

In the world of animation, Disney’s “Frozen,” now the fourth highest-grossing domestic animated release ever, is in second place with $9.3 million. The studio rereleased a singalong version of the film, as the movie’s soundtrack remains No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The film’s signature track “Let It Go,” sung by Idina Menzel, sits on the Billboard Hot 100 among the top 30. “Frozen” singalong shows, featured in 2,057 theaters out of 2,754, added $2.2 million, as the film crossed the $360 million mark domestically.

Another family film, Open Road Films’ squirrel comedy “The Nut Job,” took the fourth-place slot with $7.6 million, bringing its domestic total to $50 million over a three-week span.

Focus Features’ chick flick from a male point of view, “That Awkward Moment,” starring Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller, has taken third place in its opening weekend with $9 million.

Universal’s “Lone Survivor” stands strong in the fifth slot with $7.2 million, as it notably crosses the $100 million mark, making this Mark Wahlberg’s 7th film to cross that milestone. Others have included “Planet of the Apes,” ”Ted,” ”The Departed,” ”The Other Guys” and “The Italian Job.”

Paramount’s resurgence of the film adaptations of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series, “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” this time starring Chris Pine as the resourceful CIA analyst, came in at No. 6 with $5.4 million in its third week.

In its opening weekend, the Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin-starring drama “Labor Day,” also distributed by Paramount, opened in 7th place with $5.3 million.

Riding the Oscar nominations wave were the No. 8 and 9 films: “American Hustle,” leading the Oscar pack with 10 bids, and “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which has five nods. David O. Russell’s con-artist comedy earned $4.3 million, while Martin Scorsese’s provocative stockbroker fete gained $3.6 million.

Rounding out the top 10, and dropping from last week’s position six, was Lionsgate’s big-budget “I, Frankenstein,” with $3.5 million in its second weekend. With an estimated $65 million price tag, “I Frankenstein,” in 3-D and starring Aaron Eckhart, has only a $14.5 million domestic total. But the film could gain a spike in sales overseas over the coming weeks, as it earned $13 million internationally when it hit theaters.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1.”Ride Along,” $12.3 million.

2.”Frozen,” $9.3 million.

3.”That Awkward Moment,” $9 million.

4.”The Nut Job,” $7.6 million.

5.”Lone Survivor,” $7.2 million.

6.”Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” $5.4 million.

7.”Labor Day,” $5.3 million.

8.”American Hustle,” $4.3 million.

9.”The Wolf of Wall Street,” $3.6 million.

10.”I, Frankenstein,” $3.5 million.

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE