On Sunday, Walt Disney's 3-D blockbuster lead all films for the second week in a row, taking in $42.2 million (Dh154.9 million) according to studio estimates. 

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Sam Raimi's prequel to the L. Frank Baum classic 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' also took in $46.6 million overseas, leading to a two-week worldwide total of $281.8 million.

Moreover, in a winter of underperforming releases, that makes 'Oz' easily the biggest hit of 2013 so far.

Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com said Boy, did they need it? While saying that there have been a lot of box office casualties this year and this is the shot in the arm that they needed, but they’re still waiting for the marketplace to gain some sort of momentum.

The box office has declined nearly 13 per cent from last year.

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Among the weekend’s debuts, the Halle Berry thriller 'The Call’ far exceeded expectations with a $17.1 million opening for Sony and TriStar Pictures and The Steve Carell magician comedy ‘The Incredible Burt Wonderstone’ fared worse, opening with a disappointing $10.3 million for Warner Bros.

While the performances of the two new releases continued a theme of 2013.

To say, movies targeting female audiences have had more success than male-driven films.

Deliberately Marketed to women...

According to Sony, 'The Call', in which Berry plays an emergency operator, was deliberately marketed to women, who made up 61 per cent of its audience. While ‘Burt Wonderstone', starring Carell and Jim Carrey as rival Las Vegas magicians, sought a young male comedy audience that couldn't be carried out.

Moreover, Female turnout has driven most box office hits of the year, including the Melissa McCarthy comedy 'Identity Thief' and the vampire romance 'Warm Bodies'. Macho films like Arnold Schwarzenegger's 'The Last Stand' and Sylvester Stallone's 'Bullet to the Head' have faded.

Dergarabedian says that Studios should take note that there's a lot of female power going on at the box office.

To conclude, opening in just three theatres in New York and Los Angeles was another film starring James Franco, who plays the Wizard in 'Oz the Great and Powerful'. 'Spring Breakers', a dreamy trip of day-glo debauchery starring Franco while Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens, opened with a strong $90,000 per-theatre average, ahead of its wider release next weekend.

(AW:Samrat Biswas)