'Princess and the Frog' Takes Huge Leap to No. 1

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'The consideration is how we present the movie, and how well we tell the story,' Disney's Chuck Viane said about the traditionally-animated film's victory at the U.S. Box Office.

December 14, 2009

AceShowbiz -

Disney proved that 2-D hand drawn animation still appeal to audience when "The Princess and the Frog" landed at number one on North American Box Office estimation Sunday, December 13. The film that twists the original Princess and the Frog story performed well on the chart after taking in an estimated $24.2 million during the three-day weekend beginning Friday.

As a 2-D feature, "Princess" income excelled over Disney's previous traditionally-animated film "Brother Bear" that earned $19 million in the first weekend in 2003. As an animated film, "Princess" still cannot beat the CGI and technology-advanced films such as "Bolt" (2008) and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" (2009). Nevertheless, Chuck Viane, Disney Studio president of domestic distribution, said, "I don't believe the audience seriously takes into consideration whether it's 2-D or 3-D."

Disney has high hopes on "Princess" since it was released as the school holiday approaches. Viane thought that "Princess" will still do well next week despite having to compete with "Avatar" because the films have relatively different target audience.

Elsewhere on the Box Office, "The Blind Side" continued to show strong performance with additional $15 million, taking in a total cume of $149.8 million. The only new widely-released film opening within the top 10 was "Invictus". Directed by Clint Eastwood, the sports drama absorbed $8.6 million in the first week.

Editors' Pick

At number four and five were "The Twilight Saga's New Moon" and "A Christmas Carol (2009)" respectively. The vampire series took in another $8 million for a total of $267.3 million while the seasonal animation grabbed onto $6.8 million in the sixth week for a total of $124.4 million.

Top Ten Movies at Box Office for December 11-13:

"The Princess and the Frog" - $24.2 million
"The Blind Side" - $15 million
"Invictus" - $8.6 million
"The Twilight Saga's New Moon" - $8 million
"A Christmas Carol (2009)" - $6.8 million
"Brothers" - $5 million
"Old Dogs" - $4.4 million
"2012 (2009)" - $4.35 million
"Armored" - $3.5 million
"Ninja Assassin" - $2.7 million

*UPDATE: When the final figures came out on Monday, December 14, "2012 (2009)" dropped another slot to the eighth. Hence, it swapped place with "Old Dogs", which now secured the seventh position on the chart.