'Hobbit' fever beats Tom Cruise at box office

Comedy "The Guilt Trip," starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen as a mother and son on a cross-country drive, pulled in $5.4 million over three days. The movie opened two days before the weekend, on Wednesday, scoring a five-day total of $7.4 million.

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Also this weekend, Walt Disney Co re-released 2001 animated Pixar hit "Monsters Inc" in 3D. The movie earned $5 million at domestic theaters. Next June, Disney is releasing a prequel to the film called "Monsters University".

Another new release, the 3D "Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away," with performances by the famous acrobatic troupe, earned $2.1 million.

In five theaters in New York and Los Angeles, thriller "Zero Dark Thirty" about the hunt for Osama bin Laden grossed $410,000 in what box office analyst for Hollywood.com Paul Dergarabedian described as a "huge limited release start for the film".

The movie, considered an Oscar contender, will expand nationwide on January 11.

"The Hobbit" was distributed by Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros. studio. Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc, released "Jack Reacher," "The Guilt Trip" and "Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away". Comcast Corp's Universal Studios released "This is 40," and Sony Corp's film studio distributed "Zero Dark Thirty".