31 Comments | Add
Rate & Share:
Related Links:
Info:
Disney's FROG Leaps Ahead
Disney's The Princess and the Frog Expands into First. By
Jarrod Sarafin
December 13, 2009
Princess Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) in Disney's PRINCESS AND THE FROG(2009).
© Walt Disney Pictures
As expected with Walt Disney’s expansion of The Princess and the Frog, the studio has jumped into first place cashing in on the family-focused month. Their long-awaited return to feature 2D animation grabbed an estimated $25.0 million over its first three days of wide release to increase their overall domestic tally to $27.8 million. The animated fantasy grabbed another $7 million from 1,486 foreign theaters. While New Moon still won the overall foreign race, “Princess” did finished at No. 1 in Mexico and Venezuela and opened at No. 2 in Germany ($2.8 million from 544 screens) and finished at No. 5 on the weekend overall.
Warner Bros. Pictures continues with their incredible success on The Blind Side, with the Sandra Bullock taking down the 2nd place spot. The film grabbed another $15.4 million on 3,388 theaters to increase their domestic cume to $150.2 million after four weekends of release. Great numbers for a film which reportedly cost only $29 million to produce.
Warner Bros. also has the 3rd place spot with Clint Eastwood’s latest directorial effort Invictus debuted in 2,125 theaters over the weekend and taking home $9.0 million as a result. Hard to say whether it will reach its $60 mil price tag but Eastwood’s films tend to gain momentum after their release through word of mouth.
Following in 4th place is The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which also won the foreign box office race for the fourth weekend in a row. Domestically, it took down another $8.0 million in the states while also nabbing another $22.3 million from 9,163 screens in 66 markets, raising its offshore cume to $358.7 million. The latest weekend results on both sides of the pond has the film grossing $626 million worldwide after 24 days of release. Those numbers are set against a budget of only $50 million.
Taking down the 5th place is the steady release of A Christmas Carol. Disney continues to hover between 4th-5th every weekend with their holiday-focused feature film and this weekend was no different, with the latest Zemeckis motion-capture film earning another $6.8 million. The film has a domestic gross of $124.4 million and a foreign take of $118.2 million, making for a worldwide cume of $242.6 million. The budget is listed at $200 mil.
| Rank | Movie | Weekend | Theaters | Average | Total | Budget |
| 1 | The Princess and the Frog | $25.0 mil | 3,434 | $7,280 | $27.8 mil | $105 |
| 2 | The Blind Side | $15.4 mil | 3,388 | $4,560 | $150.2 mil | $29 |
| 3 | Invictus | $9.0 mil | 2,125 | $4,275 | $9.0 mil | $60 |
| 4 | The Twilight Saga: New Moon | $8.0 mil | 3,635 | $2,201 | $267.3 mil | $50 |
| 5 | A Christmas Carol | $6.8 mil | 2,402 | $2,861 | $124.4 mil | $200 |
| 6 | Brothers | $5.0 mil | 2,088 | $2,395 | $17.4 mil | $26 |
| 7 | 2012 | $4.4 mil | 1,838 | $2,394 | $155.3 mil | $200 |
| 8 | Old Dogs | $4.3 mil | 3,090 | $1,423 | $39.8 mil | $35 |
| 9 | Armored | $3.5 mil | 1,919 | $1,824 | $11.7 mil | $20 |
| 10 | Ninja Assassin | $2.7 mil | 2,100 | $1,290 | $34.3 mil | $40 |
And now Maniacs, it’s time for Avatar. We know who will be winning the box office next report. The question on everyone’s minds is: “How much?”
There’s been a widely discussed online debate on the price tag associated with James Cameron’s latest action-adventure. Some sources place his film in the range of $500 million while others still maintain it on the low end of $250-300 million. If those numbers can be considered “low end.”
Given these numbers, it would seem natural that the studio would release the film on Wednesday (Tuesday at midnight) but that doesn’t seem to be happening. The date is still set for Friday December 18, 2009 (with Thursday midnight shows).
How much cash do you see this film taking in its first three days of release?
Will it beat The Dark Knight’s three-day opening weekend record of $158.4 million? If not, can it take Spider-Man 3’s $151.1 million or The Twilight Saga: New Moon’s $142.8 million?
Sound off below!
December 18, 2009 Releases:
Wide
Avatar (3,300+)
Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2,700)
Limited
Crazy Heart
Nine
The Young Victoria
Ricky
LOGIN
REGISTER
RSS
HOME
Didn't see anything nor was I interested in anything other than AVATAR this comin week
I highly doubt that AVATAR will vie for a record opening weekend other than I-Max records but not overall records.
Keep in mind that in the history of history only ONE non-sequel has ever breached the 100mil mark opening weekend and that was the Amazing Spider Man, an American icon
I however I'm predicting 120mil opening weekend. I know I'm projecting my enthusiasm to the general public. Most sites seem to be predicting around 70 but I gotta believe that movie fans have to be intrigued and curious enough to want to see this opening weekend as it will be a landmark movie and a cultural phenomenon opening the door to a new age of movie making, miracle cures, peace on earth , etc etc
Plus we can't overlook the fact that 3D and I-Max are pricier tickets. So even if the turn out is low that should make up a bit for it.
Word of mouth, if the initial response is a sign, should be strong and long legs is really what AVATAR needs to justify the highly anticipated sequels