The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has continued its journey at the top of the box office, decimating the competition with its solid franchise state, huge CGI set pieces and epic proportions. It even managed to stop Ron Burgundy in his tracks.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of SmaugIt's all smiles for Martin Freeman in Desolation of Smaug

Peter Jackson's Hobbit sequel took in $31.5 million in its second weekend of release for Warner Bros., adding to the $73.6m the fantasy goliath took on its opening weekend. It's now made more than $400 worldwide, including $96 million internationally over the weekend.

The highly anticipated, much-marketed Anchorman sequel managed to rake in $26.8 million over the three-day weekend and $40 million since opening Tuesday night, putting it second in this weekend’s box office chart.

Read our reviews of The Hobbit, American Hustle and Anchorman 2

"Anchorman will have a much larger footprint internationally than the last 'Anchorman' did," said Don Harris, head of domestic distribution for Paramount.

"Will Ferrell has done a really good job of turning this character into something that travels around the world." Disney’s Frozen managed to keep up its impressive financial performance with a further $19 million in the bag; this brings the film’s cumulative total to $191.5 million in its 5th week.

Anchorman 2The Anchorman 2 gang broke the box office, but couldn't top it

In 4th place is American Hustle, which, while in its second week of release, still has more to come. "It's such a crowd-pleaser as well as a critical hit," said Sony's distribution head Rory Bruer.

"We have so much more to look forward to, including Christmas Day." Currently, David O Russell’s comedy, featuring a familiar, all-star cast, has already managed $19 million on a limited release.

It’ll be facing some big films on Christmas Day though, with The Wolf of Wall Street, Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone comedy Grudge Match,; Justin Bieber’s documentary, Believe and Keanu Reeves' 47 Ronin all coming out on the 25th of December.

Figures courtesy of Box Office Mojo

American Hustle poster