By Deena Beasley
LOS ANGELES - Disney's animated "The Princess and the Frog" hopped over feel-good football film "The Blind Side," to take the top spot in North American box office sales in its first weekend in wide release.
The family-friendly Disney movie drew $25 million in ticket sales. It tells the tale of a woman turned into a frog after a kiss and marks a return for the studio to hand-drawn animation.
"It's one of those classic Disney fairy tales and people just fell in love with it," said Chuck Viane head of domestic distribution at Walt Disney Co's Buena Vista unit.
The second place football film had a take of $15.5 million.
The No. 3 movie was Clint Eastwood's Nelson Mandela drama "Invictus," which brought in $9.1 million.
"This film has Oscar potential written all over it and should maintain solid grosses week after week," Paul Dergarabedian, head of Hollywood.com's box office tracking division, said in a statement.
Viane also said he believes "The Princess and the Frog" will deliver "a very strong multiple of the opening weekend."
"Disney's A Christmas Carol" slipped to the No. 5 spot on the box office chart from No. 4 the previous week with a take of $6.9 million. It has so far taken in $124.5 million.
Vampire romance "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" dropped two slots to No. 4 with $8 million in ticket sales for a cumulative total of $267.4 million.
Another potential Oscar contender is Paramount's "The Lovely Bones," directed by Peter Jackson and based on the best-selling novel. It was released in three theaters and saw per theater sales of $38,667.
Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom.
"Brothers," a drama about soldiers returning home from war, took sixth place with $5 million.
Both "Invictus" and "The Blind Side" were released by Time Warner Inc studio Warner Bros.
"New Moon" was distributed by independent Summit Entertainment and "Brothers" was released by Lionsgate Entertainment.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20091214/ten-entertainment-us-boxoffice-db3f2d5.html
Sun Oct 11, 2009 5:47 pm
