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Box office: ‘Tangled’ on top as ‘Warrior’s Way’ flops on a slow weekend

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A lazy post-Thanksgiving weekend was good for ‘Tangled.’

Disney’s 3-D animated Rapunzel tale landed atop the box office as it declined more slowly than ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1,’ last weekend’s No. 1 film.

Overall receipts were low as few people hit movie theaters after packing them over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was the second-smallest box-office weekend of the year, according to data compiled by Hollywood.com.

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Coming off strong exit polls in its debut, ‘Tangled’ fell 56%, a relatively modest decline coming off a busy holiday weekend, to take in $21.5 million, according to an estimate from distributor Walt Disney Studios. The first hit in nearly a decade from Disney’s legendary Burbank animation studio, and not its more successful corporate sibling Pixar, is now just shy of $100 million in gross receipts in the U.S. after 12 days.

Only one new movie tried to grab audiences’ attention nationwide and failed miserably: ‘The Warrior’s Way,’ a fantasy action tale starring Korea’s Jang Dong-gun, Kate Bosworth and Geoffrey Rush opened to only $3.1 million. That’s the worst start this year for a movie that launched in more than 1,000 theaters.

Independently financed at a price of $42 million, ‘Warrior’s Way’ was the first film released on behalf of other financiers by Relativity Media, which has just started releasing its own movies. The terrible start is bad news for all involved with the film, even though Relativity spent relatively little on marketing, which it also handled, and targeted it at young martial-arts fans.

Of last weekend’s three new movies besides ‘Tangled,’ the Anne Hathaway-Jake Gyllenhaal romantic drama ‘Love & Other Drugs’ had the best hold, with ticket sales down only 41% to $5.7 million. The Christina Aguilera-Cher musical ‘Burlesque’ dropped 49% to $6.1 million and the Dwayne Johnson action movie ‘Faster’ slowed 55% to $3.8 million.

All were relatively minor drops compared with typical post-Thanksgiving performances, but the three films all had soft openings and are still unlikely to turn into hits.

‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1’ fell 66% on its third weekend to $16.7 million. That’s a slightly worse performance than that of 2005’s ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,’ the last film in the boy-wizard series also to open the weekend before Thanksgiving. ‘Goblet of Fire’ had a smaller opening but dropped only 64% on its third weekend and collected $19.9 million. The new ‘Potter’ film is declining faster at the domestic box office than the last three installments and now stands at a still strong $244.2 million in the U.S. and Canada.

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[Updated at 11:33 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:

1. ‘Tangled’ (Disney): $21.5 million on its second weekend, down 56%. Domestic total: $96.5 million. $26 million overseas in 15 foreign markets. International total: $45.8 million. 2. ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1’ (Warner Bros.): $16.7 million on its third weekend, down 66%. Domestic total: $244.2 million. $54.4 million overseas in 62 foreign markets. International total: $469.1 million.

3. ‘Unstoppable’ (Fox/Dune/Ingenious): $6.1 million on its fourth weekend, down 47%. Domestic total: $68.9 million. $4.2 million in 52 foreign markets. International total: $51.1 million.

4. ‘Burlesque’ (Sony Screen Gems): $6.1 million on its second weekend, down 49%. Domestic total: $27 million.

5. ‘Love & Other Drugs’ (Fox/Regency): $5.7 million on its second weekend, down 41%. Domestic total: $22.6 million.

6. ‘Megamind’ (DreamWorks Animation/Paramount): $5 million on its fifth weekend, down 60%. Domestic total: $136.7 million. $16 million overseas in 17 foreign markets. International total: $48.3 million.

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7. ‘Due Date’ (Warner Bros./Legendary): $4.2 million on its fifth weekend, down 41%. Domestic total: $91 million.

8. ‘Faster’ (CBS): $3.8 million on its second weekend, down 55%. Domestic total: $18.1 million.

9. ‘The Warrior’s Way’ (Relativity/Rogue): Opened to $3.1 million.

10. ‘The Next Three Days’ (Lionsgate): $2.7 million on its third weekend, down 43%. Domestic total: $18.4 million.]

-- Ben Fritz

Photos, from top: a scene from ‘Tangled.’ Credit: Walt Disney Studios. Jang Dong-gun and Kate Bosworth in ‘The Warrior’s Way.’ Credit: Kristy Griffin / Relativity Media

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