BOX OFFICE NEARLY DOUBLES FROM LAST YEAR

The total U.S. box office last weekend was nearly twice what it was for the comparable weekend a year ago. And one film can take credit for that entire advance: Warner Bros.’ The Lego Movie. The film defied the most sanguine predictions and earned $69.1 million over the three days. The Monuments Men, the No. 2 movie from Fox and Sony, by contrast, opened with about a third as much, $22 million, but even that figure came in well ahead of pundits’ predictions. A third new film to open wide did not share in the success of the other two. The horror flick Vampire Academy ended up with failing grades and $3.9 million. Ride Along, which had held the No. 1 spot for the previous three weeks, slipped to third place with $9.6 million, pushing its total past the $100-million mark in the process to $105.3 million. Amazingly, after 11 weeks in theaters, Frozen came in at No. 4 with $6.9 million, raising its total to $368.6 million.