"The Hobbit" 2, The Desolation of Smaug opened to a strong weekend response collecting over $73 million in the U.S and over $205 million worldwide. The release date in Australia is among the last in the world.

"The Hobbit" 2 has pushed aside other movies currently playing in the theatres to emerge as the top movie over the weekend. The movie "Frozen" has been pushed to the second spot.

Although the movie saw a strong opening, it was not able to surpass the collections from the first instalment "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," which had collected over 84.6 million in the U.S.

"The Hobbit" 2 is set for a release date of 26 December 2013 in Australia, making it one of the last countries to watch the movie in the theatres. Most of the countries watched the movie on 12 or 13 December.

The movie was released on 12 December in New Zealand. Perhaps the only country which has a release date later than that of Australia is Japan, where the movie will be hitting the theatres on 28 Feb 2013.

"The Hobbit" 2 continues the journey of Gandalf the Grey, his selection of dwarves and the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. They will try to reclaim the dwarves mountain kingdom, which was lost to a fire breathing dragon.

Orlando Bloom will be joining the cast this time as he returns as the bow wielding Legolas. He will be joined by Ian McKelly as Gandalf, Martin Freeman as Bilbo and Richard Armitage as Thorin.

The movie has got fairly good reviews and is expected to do good business with the Christmas holidays coming up. The movie is available in both 2D as well as in 3D allowing the viewers to enjoy the brilliant graphics in the film.

Movies like "Thor: The Dark World" and "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" still have some steam left in them to attract movie goers. The major upcoming movies include "Saving Mr. Banks" starring Tom Hanks, "Walking with Dinosaurs," "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and "The Wolf of Wall Street."

Will "The Hobbit" 2, Desolation of Smaug remain on top till Christmas? Or will the new movies be able to steal some of its thunder? There are high expectations that the movie will do brisk business when launched in Australia.

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