Undaunted hobbits trumped princess power at the multiplex.

Per studio estimates Sunday, Warner Bros. "Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" was No. 1 at the weekend box office with $73.7 million, besting last weekend's No. 1 film, Disney's animated fable "Frozen."

Melting down to the No. 2 position, "Frozen" earned $22.2 in its third weekend, bringing its impressive overall domestic ticket total to nearly $164.4 million.

Despite its first place position, "Hobbit" fell short of topping its prequel's debut. "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," which opened this same weekend last year, gained $84.6 million.

"'Hobbit' rules this date and Warner Bros. has linked this brand to this time of year very effectively," said box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Rentrak.

"We had an excellent weekend," said Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros. "Of course, it could have been a little better, but the weather back East was really tough last night and probably took a couple million dollars out of my pocket. But our box office will survive. We are right on target to do very similar numbers to the last 'Hobbit,' which grossed a $1 billion worldwide (overall)."

Lionsgate's holiday-themed "Tyler Perry's a Madea Christmas" came in third place with $16.2 million.

"All of the Tyler Perry movies have done in that $20 million plus range, but the weather was a factor in some of the performances of these films," said Dergarabedian.

Another Lionsgate film, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," earned $13.2 million for the fourth place slot. To date "Catching Fire" has grossed $739.9 million, surpassing the worldwide box office total for "The Hunger Games," which brought in $691 million.

If you felt like Beyoncé's surprise album release was Christmas coming early, you're not alone. Celebrities have been expressing their excitement on Twitter and spreading the word about Queen Bey's latest triumph.

As the West Coast was tucking into bed Thursday night, the singer rolled out one of the best-kept secrets in recent music history: The album she had spent the last year teasing was now available for purchase on iTunes.

The self-titled set comes as a “visual album” featuring 14 new tracks and 17 music videos.

currently available as an iTunes exclusive. Manufacturing of physical albums begins Thursday and a double disc CD/DVD will be available before the holidays, according to her label.

Working with Jay Z, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams, Drake, the Dream, Sia, Ryan Tedder, Miguel, Frank Ocean and Hit Boy, the singer churned out her most ambitious project to date, without ever actually saying she was putting out an album any time soon.

"I didn't want to release my music the way I've done it. I am bored with that. I feel like I am able to speak..

Tension prevailed at Andhra Pradesh state secretariat Friday as the employees of Seemandhra and Telangana nearly came to blows over the bill sent by the centre for formation of separate Telangana state.

Employees of Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra) took out a rally when officials were transporting the bill to the state assembly amid tight security. After the convoy of vehicles left for the assembly, Seemandhra employees intensified their protest.

Raising slogans in support of the united state, the employees marched in the high security zone and even set afire an effigy of Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh to protest his visit to Hyderabad.

Employees from Telangana began a counter protest. The secretariat was rocked by the slogans from both the sides. The two groups even tried to push each other.

Police had a tough time in controlling the two groups, who almost clashed in front of 'C' block which houses the office of the chief minister.

Both sides blamed each other for the situation. Leaders of Seemandhra employees said they had been peacefully protesting against the centre's decision for bifurcation of the state. They alleged that the rival group created the trouble.

Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee (JAC) leader V. Srinivas Goud said they would not tolerate Seemandhra employees creating hurdles in formation of Telangana state. He said as a large number of people from Seemandhra are living in Hyderabad, the Seemandhra employees should not do anything which vitiate the peaceful atmosphere.

Srinivas Goud also asked police to be impartial while handling the situation. He wondered how Seemandhra employees were allowed to use loudspeaker, take out rally and burn effigy in a restricted area.

The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday announced it will not form a government in Delhi and will reject the Lieutenant Governor's offer when party leaders meet him on Saturday.

AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Yogendra Yadav made the announcement after a party meeting. "We don't have majority (support) nor have we finished first," said Yadav. He said AAP founder leader Arvind Kejriwal would meet Jung Saturday in response to a formal invitation from the Lt. Governor regarding government formation in Delhi.

 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which got 32 seats as part of an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal, has already told Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung that it cannot form a government in Delhi as it lacked majority support in the 70-seat assembly.

AAP took the second spot with 28 seats in a dream electoral debut.

The Congress, which ruled Delhi for 15 years, was crushed and ended up with only eight seats. With the two leading parties refusing to form a government, Delhi stares at re-elecions.

If you've ever said to yourself, My underwear is just covering TOO MUCH of my junk -- well, you're in luck.

Petit Q, a French brand, has released a line of underwear that is, honestly, barely there when it comes to covering your nether-regions. A line that seeks to "create a really sexy and edgy brand but still in a playful way," Petit Q is certainly playing up their appeal to the gay male consumer.

Check out the sexy video of the above to check out all of the different styles -- would you wear these skimpy undies?

And if you're looking for some other underwear this season specifically marketed for gay men? Check out these "Identity Briefs," which let your sexual partner know your preferred sexual position before you're even completely naked!

'Kate had ‘Baby Boy Winslet’ on Saturday at an NHS Hospital,' the spokeswoman said.

A source close to Kate added the couple are 'thrilled to bits.'

The newborn is a third child for Kate, but a first for her husband. The baby joins Mia, 13, and Joe, nine, from Kate's first two marriages.

Winslet met Rocknroll while holidaying at his uncle Richard Branson's privately owned Necker Island, where they wed in secret last December after a whirlwind romance.

The 35-year-old works on the space-travel branch of the Virgin empire.

Rocknroll was born Ned Abel Smith, but changed his name to his unusual monkier by deed poll.

Winslet kept her last name on her marriage, telling Usmagazine: 'I was never going to change my name to Rocknroll. I've never changed my name to anything so I didn’t see a reason to start now.'

It is not known which surname the proud parents will give their newborn son, although by referring to 'Baby Boy Winslet' her spokeswoman implied it would be his mother's.

Speaking recently about her pregnancy, Kate told People magazine: 'I feel completely great. Being a parent turns you inside out.

A spokeswoman confirmed the news, saying: “Kate had ‘Baby Boy Winslet’ on Saturday in Sussex. Mother and baby are doing great.”

Kate already has two children - 13-year-old daughter, Mia, with first husband Jim Threapleton and nine-year-old son, Joe, with 'Bond' director, Sam Mendes.

“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” is quite possibly the least talked about sure-to-be-blockbuster movie of all time.

I do wonder what life would be like in a world where director Peter Jackson had stuck to the original plan and only released two "Hobbit" movies instead of three. Would the reaction to the first movie, “An Unexpected Journey,” have been better? Would we all be more excited for “The Desolation of Smaug”? Would I have heard at least one person say the words, “I cannot wait to see ‘The Desolation of Smaug’” by now?

It’s remarkable that a series that started out as popular as “The Lord of the Rings” has become something of an afterthought. (An afterthought that still makes a lot of money, I will add.) But I feel that “The Hobbit” is basically the “How I Met Your Mother” of movies right now; we all continue to watch because we’ve invested too many hours to give up now, even though we’d probably rather be doing something else. Actually, the difference between “The Desolation of Smaug” and this final season of “How I Met Your Mother” is that “The Desolation of Smaug” is serviceable entertainment.

It’s certainly an upgrade from last year’s “An Unexpected Journey,” in that there are no seemingly endless musical montages. So, yes, the journey of a group of dwarves to reclaim their homeland from the dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) continues. But the dwarves really are the biggest problem with the “Hobbit” movies compared to the “Lord of the Rings” movies. There are just so many of them that we don’t really know much about them as individuals, save for Thorin (Richard Armitage). I suspect this is why Jackson decided to bring back Legolas (Orlando Bloom) from “Lord of the Rings” and just completely make up a new character, Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly), to add at least the semblance of variety.

And it seems that the only thing the dwarves are good at doing is getting captured, then waiting around for Bilbo (Martin Freeman) to save them. This happens in the first movie, and the dwarves manage to get themselves captured an astounding three times during “The Desolation of Smaug.” (A case can be made that they actually get themselves captured four times.) Watching people go from place to place, getting captured each time along the way, doesn’t make for the most interesting of heroes.

But think if “The Hobbit” had been made into just two movies instead of three. Most of the bloat of the first movie would have had to be cut, giving the first movie a much more urgent pace. We’d be talking about the grand conclusion to a remarkable five-part movie series. All of this makes me a little sad because when “The Lord of the Rings” movies were released, each one was an event. “The Hobbit” movies feel more like a commitment we wish we hadn’t made, but it would be rude at this point not to show up.

It's that time of year when the weather gets a bit cooler and you've got to pull out your winter gear--big coat, gloves, hat and scarf--there's nothing out of the ordinary about that. But one artist is raising eyebrows with his choice of 'scarves' that aren't wool or even silk, they're white women.

Nate Hill, a New York-based performance artist, is grabbing a lot of attention with his latest work entitled "Trophy Scarves" in which the 36-year-old travels to the homes of different white women and drapes them over his shoulders. Some women are scantily clad and others completely naked.

According to the official website, Hill describes the project in one succinct sentence:

"I wear white women for status and power."

Take a quick glance at the "Trophy Scarves" Instagram page and you'll see Hill dressed in a tuxedo with various women, wearing barely anything, over his shoulders.

During an interview with Vice, Hill said the project is commenting on people's ideas of race and status.

"Well, there are people who see certain races as status symbols, and someone had to comment on that," he said. "I wanted to find another way to come at that. I guess it’s the same kind of satirical, tongue-in-cheek approach that I like to take with things. I like to talk about something serious but do it in a lighter, kind of a goofy way. "

Hill has a history of grabbing attention with his comments on race. In November 2011, he caused a stir on the Harlem streets when he donned whiteface and posed as "The White Ambassador."

Following her "stop acting like wh*res" Twitter rant, the Parks & Recreation star has penned an essay for Glamour detailing her frustrations with the "pornification of pop" these days, singling out the likes of Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj for saturating mainstream music with graphic sexual imagery.

"This fall I was hanging out with my sisters, catching up on pop-culture stuff. We watched some music videos, looked at a few Instagram accounts, and checked out blogs. And amid the usual duck-lipped selfies and staged paparazzi photos, a theme emerged: Stripper poles, G-strings, boobs, and a lot of tongue action were all now normal accessories for mainstream pop stars," she writes. "That was at the end of October, a month that had already brought us the Miley Cyrus cross-continental twerk-a-thon and Nicki Minaj's Halloween pasties."

"With the addition of Rihanna writhing on a pole in her 'Pour It Up' video, and Lady Gaga's butt-crack cover art for the song that goes 'Do what you want with my body,' I was just done. I'd had enough."
Adding that she's "not a prude" and "grew up on a healthy balance of sexuality in pop stars," Jones explains that sexy doesn't mean "having to take an ultrasound tour of some pop star's privates."

"Yes, we had Madonna testing the boundaries of appropriateness, but then we also had Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Cyndi Lauper, women who played with sexuality but didn't make it their calling card," she continues. "Twenty years later, all the images seem homogenous. Every star interprets "sexy" the same way: lots of skin, lots of licking of teeth, lots of bending over. I find this oddly...boring."

The actress also explains her use of the word "wh*re" in her previous rant, writing, "The fact that I was accused of 'slut-shaming,' being anti-woman, and judging women's sex lives crushed me. I consider myself a feminist. I would never point a finger at a woman for her actual sexual behavior, and I think all women have the right to express their desires. But I will look at women with influence—millionaire women who use their 'sexiness' to make money—and ask some questions. There is a difference, a key one, between 'shaming' and 'holding someone accountable.'"