Box office: 'Tangled' feasts as 'Burlesque, ' Faster,' 'Love & Other Drugs' fight for leftovers

Disney Animation has found its way back to the top with a princess who came down from a tower. "Tangled," the storied animation studio's six-years-in-the-making movie based on "Rapunzel," opened to a strong $69 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend.

It easily topped a trio of other new films -- "Burlesque," "Love & Other Drugs" and "Faster" -- which all had soft openings, according to studio estimates.

The Christina Aguilera-Cher musical "Burlesque" did the best of the three, launching to $17.2 million over five days, but it was also by far the most expensive to produce. The Jake Gyllenhaal-Anne Hathaway romantic drama "Love & Other Drugs" started with $14 million, while the Dwayne Johnson action flick "Faster" took in $12.2 million.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1" was the holiday's No. 1 picture, as expected, taking in $76.3 million over five days and bringing its total after 10 days in theaters to an impressive $220.4 million. In slightly worrisome news for distributor Warner Bros., however, "Deathly Hallows" grossed less on its second weekend than 2005's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the last movie in the series to open just before Thanksgiving, despite five years of ticket price inflation. That represents a significant drop in attendance and means the new film may end up being slightly less popular.

"Tangled" marks the first strong opening for Disney Animation Studios since 2002's "Lilo & Stitch." The legendary Burbank studio, known for hits ranging from "Snow White" to "The Lion King," has for the last several years been overshadowed by its corporate siblings at Pixar and seen a string of disappointments, including "Meet the Robinsons" and "The Princess and the Frog."

With "Tangled," Disney reworked the 3-D picture's plot, advertising and even marketing to make it more than just a "princess" movie, and appears to have succeeded, although the core audience was still mothers and daughters, with 61% of attendees female.

Despite concerns that it would be overshadowed by "Potter," the movie found a sizable family audience and generated spectacular word-of-mouth, garnering an average grade from attendees of A+, according to market research firm CinemaScore.

"Tangled" also enjoyed solid if not huge starts in a few foreign countries, particularly Russia, where it took in $7.5 million.

"Tangled," which saw its budget balloon to more than $260 million and was six years in production, still has a tough road to profitability. But its popularity is sure to provide a much-needed shot-in-the-arm to Disney Animation Studios and even the princess-movies genre, which Disney executives previously said they were  putting on hold after "Tangled."

"Burlesque" overcame withering reviews to generate good buzz among the mostly female crowds who attended, with a CinemaScore of A-. But the movie cost $55 million to make after the benefit of tax credits and was aggressively marketed, including product placement on the finale of "Dancing With the Stars" last week, making its $17.2-million start far from impressive.

The musical romance is one of the most expensive movies to date from Sony Screen Gems, which typically focuses on less costly horror film and thrillers.

Distributor 20th Century Fox and co-financier Regency Films knew "Love & Other Drugs" was unlikely to garner a big opening given the stiff competition for female moviegoers from "Burlesque" and "Tangled." Still, the film may struggle to generate good word-of-mouth as its CinemaScore was a not-too-hot B-, perhaps from moviegoers not happy with the terminal-illness theme. Moviegoers under 25 gave it a better CinemaScore of B+, however, giving Fox some hope it will keep playing to younger crowds.

CBS Films had hoped that with "Faster," its third release, it would find its first hit by appealing to men on a weekend dominated with female-centric movies. But the R-rated action film had the slowest start of any new picture. Still, it cost CBS and its partner Sony Pictures only $24 million to make, meaning it's far from a financial disaster. And although the CinemaScore was a disappointing C+, "Faster" was the only new movie to see ticket sales improve every day from Wednesday through Saturday, usually a sign of good word-of-mouth.

Several returning movies besides "Harry Potter" enjoyed a strong hold over Thanksgiving. Most notably, the Denzel Washington-Chris Pine thriller "Unstoppable" lived up to its name, with ticket sales down only 10% for the three-day weekend. It raked in $16.2 million for the five-day weekend.

The animated comedy "Megamind" enjoyed a 19% third-weekend drop despite the competition for families from "Tangled." It grossed $17.6 million from Wednesday through Sunday.

[Update, 11:05 a.m.: Here are the top 10 movies at the domestic box office, according to studio estimates and Hollywood.com, along with international grosses when available. Grosses are from Wednesday through Sunday, but percentage declines for returning movies are on a three-day basis.

1. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1" (Warner Bros.): $76.3 million over five days on its second week in theaters, down 60% on a three-day basis. Domestic total: $220.4 million. $113.2 million overseas in 62 foreign markets. International total: $389.2 million.

2. "Tangled" (Disney): Opened to $69 million.

3. "Megamind" (DreamWorks Animation/Paramount): $17.6 million over five days in its fourth week in theaters, down 19% on a three-day basis. Domestic total: $130.5 million. $625,000 overseas in 11 markets. International total: $32.6 million.

4. "Burlesque" (Sony Screen Gems): Opened to $17.2 million.

5. "Unstoppable" (Fox/Dune/Ingenious): $16.2 million over five days in its third week in theaters, down 10% on a three-day basis. Domestic total: $60.7 million. $9.2 million overseas in 50 foreign markets. International total: $43.2 million.

6. "Love & Other Drugs" (Fox/Regency): Opened to $14 million.

7. "Faster" (CBS/Sony): Opened to $12.2 million.

8. "Due Date" (Warner Bros./Legendary): $10.4 million over five days in its fourth week in theaters, down 18% on a three-day basis. Domestic total: $85 million. $8.2 million overseas in 44 foreign markets. International total: $73 million.

9. "The Next Three Days" (Lionsgate) $6.6 million over five days in its second week in theaters, down 27% on a three-day basis. Domestic total: $14.6 million.

10. "Morning Glory" (Paramount): $5.5 million over five days in ints third week in theaters, down 23% on a three-day basis. Domestic total: $26.5 million.]

--Ben Fritz

Related:

Disney animation is closing the book on fairy tales

'Burlesque' went through bumps and grinds to make it to the big screen

Photos, from top: A scene from "Tangled." Credit: Walt Disney Studios. Christina Aguilera in "Burlesque." Credit: Stephen Vaughan / Screen Gems. Dwayne Johnson in "Faster." Credit: CBS Films

Comments

[Eduardo]

Obviously Disney will have to go back on their strategy to avoid princess pics. They just need to learn why audiences preferred Tangled to The Princess and the Frog. I can imagine the title and marketing had something to do with it but a traditional blonde princess certainly didn't hurt.

[Andrew]

Tangled it seems to be a good animation movie.
I want to see it first and then I will say my final opinion. :)

[Potter Fan]

Hi Ben. Let me get this straight. You claim Tangled was the top grossing picture over the holiday and then you say Harry Potter had a bigger box office. Then you say the recent Potter is less popular than Goblet of Fire, but Goblet grossed $101M in the opening weekend compared to Deathly Hallows $125M. I'm a bit confused with your math.

[Eric]

May Disney should re-think its decision about abandoning all fairy tales for future animation projects? Not that there are that many left at this point, mind you.

[Joe B.]

I don't know a lot about placement on shows like DWTS, but I would have thought the producers of said show would have been more than happy to have Aguilera perform sans product placement fee. Am I that naive?

[john]

disney will more than make their 260 + million back...on marketing alone.

[patrick]

Now I know why I avoided the theaters this weekend. Maybe next week...

[Jj]

Burlesque did good for a musical. Those were the exact numbers its studio was predicting for its opening weekend. Musicals are never huge openers, but have longer legs than most films. The highest opening weekend gross for a musical was Mamma Mia with $27 Million, so Burlesque is right on par with most movie musicals. Chicago did 8 million its opening weekend and went on to gross over $100 million when all was said and done. Burlesque has already made Nine's entire domestic gross in less than a week. It still hasn't even opened internationally yet so it will probably eventually, at the very least, make back its budget. And I'm glad its doing well. It's a great movie despite what critics have said about it.

[NaySayer]

I believe Chicken Little was released after Lilo and Stitch and made 314 million worldwide, to Lilo and Stitch's 273 million, and also had a stronger opening......80 million after the second weekend.
Please check your facts before you write...........

[Marley]

Disagree about the blonde princess thing.... I saw Princess & The Frog to support the idea of a Black princess but was truly offended that the prince was NOT Black/Creole (it was New Orleans after all) and instead he was of some non-determined ethnic background. The fact that the actor portraying the prince was not Black was for me disappointing and defeated the purpose.

I saw Tangled yesterday with my 8-year old son and we enjoyed it tremendously. He liked Flynn and Maximus, as did I, and I also thought the songs were really great. I do think Rapunzel is one of the best Disney Princesses ever, that is after she finally put the pan away (got to be a bit much).

[mikex]

I got suckered into Love and Other Drugs because Jake Gylenhaal was in it. I already had worries because the awful, even doomed Ann Hathaway is in it. Did she get an Oscar for some lousy performance a few years ago? I guess not, she only got a nomination, then flopped. But I think she's been a flop since the Devil Wears Prada.. When I walked in the 10:15 p.m. showing to find four thirtyish women already there., only then did I realize the buried doomed story of a thirty something chick with Parkinsons, had been sold as a chick flick. These four were waiting for laughs at the expense of Gylenhaal. Gylenhaal works for Pfizer as a drug rep, charming female personnel at doctor's offices so he can drop off samples and get the drug moving. The story may have come from a serious story about the fight between big pharma to place their stuff, and broadbrushing the use of their products to be used for other purposes not stated to the FDA. Several Big Pharma operators were fined and forced to stop broadbrushing their products, but this is treated as standard practice in Love and Other Drugs. There is no issue. Those idiot girls down in front were in for a surprise, this movie was not going to be Sex in the City. Gylenhaal wants to become a big success pushing Pfizer Pharma. He pulls out the stops, bedding doctor's office employees to get his foot in the door. One day though, a patient, Hathaway, is in the doctor's office getting Parkinson's Drugs which Jake doesn't even sell. She's a little young to be having Parkinson's and I suspect most in the audience don't know what a dreadful death knell Parkinson's is. Gylenhaal, just like those clueless 30 somethings down in front, doesn't get it either. He starts coming onto Hathaway, who in this film looks worse than she's ever looked in any film. Her hair is too long and she is dressed badly at all times. She has long curly ringlets and lives in a bedraggled apartment. She's broke but has no job, she's a volunteer assisting the Geritol set in getting to Canada to slake their Big Pharma Jones at Canuck prices. She's broke! There's no earthly reason a hunk like Gylenhaal would even take a second look. He should have passed on this picture too, probably took it to see how he'd do at light comedy. He did alright, but he had to pretend cluelessness about the Parkinson death knell almost right to the end in order to keep the film rolling. This one reminds me of Million Dollar Baby which sucker punched audiences into believing they came to a rousing fight film only to wreck the movie with a mercy killing. Oh, the movie is set in 1997 or '98 when Viagra first came out for Pfizer, which gives the movie the opportunity to play off some bad Viagra jokes, like Jake running around looking for help at a hospital because he's got a hard-on that won't quit. The four girls down in front had a good time with that obvious canard. I think the ads pushed the film as a women's sex comedy on tv because I saw a little bit of one on the net, but its no comedy. Now, trying to find that Hathaway was once up for the Oscar, I find instead that she's being pushed for Best Actress again. This is a joke. Ann Hathaway is on her way out of the movies entirely. She's terribly unlikeable.