Disney’s ‘Princess And The Frog’ Rules Weekend Box Office

Walt Disney Studios’ return to hand-drawn animation was a successful one, as “The Princess and the Frog” opened nationwide this weekend and won the overall box office battle. The tale of a black New Orleans woman who winds up on the wrong end of a voodoo spell earned an estimated $25 million.

The movie marks the first time Disney has featured a black princess as its lead character, and ends a five-year hiatus from feature-length “hand-drawn” animation. While winning the weekend, the opening was softer than analysts had hoped, looking for a take in the $35-$40 million range.

Clint Eastwood’s “Invictus,” featuring Morgan Freeman as South African president Nelson Mandela, opened to a respectable $9 million in 2,125 theatres, good enough for seventh place overall.

More notes:

• “The Lovely Bones” debuted in three theatres in New York and Los Angeles, to an average of $38,000 per screen. The opening allows Peter Jackson’s film to be considered for this year’s Oscar race.
• Tom Ford’s “A Single Man” had a similar small-count debut, including Dallas, earning an estimated average of $24,000 on each of its nine screens.
• “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” continues to lose momentum – dropping 48 percent from last week’s total – yet hovers in the top five. The second Twilight movie has earned over $267 million domestically, and a global total of over $588 million.
• While “2012″ has hit $155 million in America ($4.4 million this weekend), the overseas market is eating up the disaster flick. $519 million overseas has pumped up the $674 million global take.

Here’s the breakdown of the Top Five, courtesy BoxOfficeMojo.com:

WEEKEND TOP 5 STUDIO ESTIMATES, DECEMBER 11-13, 2009

Rank. Movie Title (Distributor)
Weekend Gross | Theaters | Total Gross | Week #

1. The Princess and the Frog (Buena Vista)
$25.0 million | 3,434 | $27.9 million | 3

2. The Blind Side (Warner Bros.)
$15.5 million | 3,388 | $150.2 million | 4

3. Invictus (Warner Bros.)
$9.1 million | 2,125 | $9.1 million | 1

4. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit Entertainment)
$8.0 million | 3,635 | $267.4 million | 4

5. A Christmas Carol (2009) (Buena Vista)
$6.9 million | 2,402 | $124.5 million | 6