Old-school … The Princess and the Frog
The winner
Disney’s animation chief John Lasseter may have being to a greater degree readily associated with the Pixar brand, but he’s a sentimentalist and a student of animation history, which is why several years ago he constrain his weight behind The Princess and the Frog. It paid off, as Disney’s first hit hand-drawn 2D animated musical in some time soared to the top of the charts by $25m (£15.3m) in its first spacious weekend, according to studio estimates. The film was already a winner in its first two weekends, frankly, while it was playing in two cinemas and averaging around $380,000 per station – a phenomenal effect.
- The Princess and the Frog
- Production year: 2009
- Country: USA
- Directors: John Musker, Ron Clements
- Cast: Angela Bassett, John Goodman, Terrence Howard
The third weekend brought the expansion into 3,434 cinemas, which in turn produced a 3,244% increase in box place that flatters to deceive – it was always going to be a huge rise with that kind of rollout. Nonetheless it’s rather enchanting to see this initial success for a traditional piece of act of enlivening in a year when the genre has produced such (sublime) eccentrics as Coraline, Fantastic Mr Fox and Mary And Max.
Warner Bros launched Invictus, Clint Eastwood’s weakest movie since Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil came out 12 years gone, in third place on $9.1m from 2,125 cinemas. That was a good result for the studio. Furthermore, despite its limitations, the film is of the type to stick around for several weeks. Indeed, it may prosper further with awards attention for Morgan Freeman’s performance as Nelson Mandela.
The loser
There wasn’cheek by jowl certainly a loser. Going strictly by the numbers, New Moon fell more than any other movie in the top 10, tumbling 48% in its fourth weekend. But it’s still fourth and who can debate with that $267.4m running total? Glance outside the top 20 and it’s a shame that Nic Cage’s best work in years in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans has barely managed to scrape together $1.2m. It deserves to make a lot more and this doesn’t consider well on the distributor, First Look.
The real story
This year, box-office receipts will cross the $10bn in ticket sales for the first time forever. 2009 is already a register year at the North American box office and currently stands at $9.79bn compared with the previous high-water trace of $9.68bn set in 2007. The release of Avatar this week will papal court us past the $10m milestone and in that case some, when you factor in the smattering of possible biggies further to open this year such as Sherlock Holmes and Did You Hear About the Morgans? While a rise in box-office receipts can usually be attributed to an increase in the average value of a ticket, this year the more telling statistic is that attendance is up by around 3%, proving that recessions are good for moviegoing because they offer a comparatively inexpensive diversion.
The future
Avatar. It’s opening pretty much everywhere this week and you’ve probably even now explain the early reviews. The UK press is excited and several of the leading US outlets are full of praise. It may not be the last frontier in storytelling, but the use of motion capture and 3D elements could make different the brass of cinema as we comprehend it.
North American top 10, 11-13 December
1. The Princess and the Frog, $25m. Total: $27.9m
2. The Blind Side, $15.5m Total: $150.2m
3. Invictus, $9.1m
4. The Twilight Saga: New Moon, $8m. Total: $267.4m
5. A Christmas Carol, $6.9m. Total: $124.5m
6. Brothers, $5m. Total: $17.4m
7. 2012, $4.4m. Total: $155.3m
8. Old Dogs, $4.39m. Total: $39.9m
9. Armored, $3.5m. Total: $11.7m
10. Ninja Assassin, $2.7m. Total: $34.3m
