'Frozen' Gives 'Paranormal' Spinoff Cold Shoulder

Miami (AP) — On a wintery weekend, Disney's "Frozen" retook the box office top spot with $20.7 million, freezing out the horror spinoff "Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones."

According to studio estimates Sunday, Paramount's "The Marked Ones" debuted in second place with $18.2 million, a total that includes Thursday night screenings. The film is a stand-alone story spun off from the lucrative, low-budget horror franchise "Paranormal Activity."

But it wasn't able to overcome Disney's animated "Frozen," which has been a hit for family audiences for the last seven weeks. Another hold-over, Warner Bros.' "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," came in third with $16.3 million in its fourth week of release.

The near-blizzard snow storm that battered the Northeast may have tempered the weekend's box-office business.