The Princess and the Frog Ribbit to Number 1

Posted by Dominic in Latest News on December 14th, 2009

Disney proved it still had what it takes in the classical 2D arena of animation this weekend with the wide release of The Princess and the Frog. The studio’s first hand drawn feature in five years hopped to the top with a modest debut of $25 million. I haven’t enjoyed a classically animated Disney movie since Tarzan, but I very much enjoyed this take on the Brothers Grimm story The Frog Prince. Let’s hope Disney can keep this department going.

Two sports themed pictures took the next two spots. The Blind Side continues its strong word of mouth performance, grossing $15.5 million. The Warner Brothers release has grossed $150 million in 4 weeks and is holding well, dropping a mere 22% from last weekend. Also from Warner Brothers, Clint Eastwood’s politically themed South African sports drama Invictus debuted with $9.1 million.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon continues its slide with $8 million. The film was down 48%; however, with a domestic take of over $260 million, does it really matter? With a modest $50 million budget, the film is still a huge success.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol rounded out the top 5 with $6.9 million.

Brothers dropped 3 spots from its debut weekend with $5 million, followed by the disaster film 2012 with $4.4 million. Though not quite a blockbuster stateside, the film has made over $519 million abroad for a 5-week total of over $674 million.

Old Dogs still clings to the top 10 with $4.39 million. Meanwhile, Armored is quickly on its way to DVD with $3.5 million. Bringing up the rear was Ninja Assassin with $2.7 million.

I’m curious to see what kind of business Avatar brings this coming week. Until next week you crazy kids.