After ruling the roost for nearly a month in both the US and UK, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug has finally fallen from its perch atop the box office charts. In the UK, American Hustle stormed the chart after gaining terrific reviews, knocking The Hobbit into second place and Frozen into third.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of SmaugThe Hobbit's supremacy was scuppered by Disney's animated winter powerhouse, Frozen

In North America on the other hand, Frozen made a post-holiday surge - perhaps sparked by the continent's "polar vortex" ice storm - to take the top spot. Other new films last week included Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, which wasn't screened to the press and managed to land at second place in the US and fifth in the UK.

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In America, The Wolf of Wall Street took advantage of its scandalous press stories to expand its release and climb into fourth place just as its traction kicks in for awards season.

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And the veteran acting ensemble of Last Vegas - Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert DeNiro and Kevin Kline - proved they still have box office clout, opening in fourth place on the UK chart.

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It was a slightly different story for Sylvester Stallone and DeNiro in America, playing on their boxing history to face off in Grudge Match, which only barely made it to the chart at all, settling for 10th place.

So what will the box office look like this weekend?

The U.K’s chart will certainly appropriate a different complexion with the release of Steve McQueen’s emotive slave drama, 12 Years a Slave, which recently garnered attention from Bafta with several nominations for both cast and crew.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Chiwetel EjioforBenedict Cumberbatch and Chiwetel Ejiofor in the highly rated 12 Years a Slave

Not even the family-friendly name of Colin Firth will be enough to draw audiences away from the Oscar favourite; Railway Man sees the British star in the World War II drama. Elsewhere, Vince Vaughn’s latest effort – Delivery Man – might just have enough comedy clout about it to grab the top 5, despite what the critics have been saying.

We shouldn’t expect any major shifts in power in the U.S box office, though; every release is a limited one due to award season consuming every film release in the last few months.