Lord Of The Rings prequel The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will ring in 2013 as America's top film after beating Django Unchained and Les Miserables to number one at the year-end box office.

Peter Jackson's fantasy epic raked in almost $33 million (£20.6 million) over the weekend to blast past the $220 million (£138 million) mark at the U.S. box office.

Quentin Tarantino's spaghetti western Django Unchained has come in second with a $30.7 million (£19.2 million) opening and Les Miserables heads into the New Year in third place with $28 million (£17.5 million).

The movie musical has made $67.5 million (£42.2 million) since opening on Christmas Day (25Dec12).