Cartoon Brew:
Disney’s Tangled bulldozed its way past analysts’ expectations earning an estimated $49.1 million over the weekend, and boosting its five-day Thanksgiving holiday total to a towering $69 million. Disney’s first CG princess cartoon was one million dollars shy of Harry Potter’s first place box office finish, however, its three-day total still ranks as the biggest opening ever for a feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation.Even the studio was only expecting ~$35 million for the five-day weekend. But when Wednesday's figures started rolling in, they were way above early estimates. The numbers kept building through the weekend.
No doubt Tangled benefitted from Warner Brothers abandoning plans to release Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One in 3D, allowing theaters to devote more 3D screens to the Disney release.
But credit has to go to Disney marketing chief MT Carney. While I wasn't impressed by the film's marketing, there's no question that it connected. And the controversial decision to rename the film Tangled now looks like genius.
Can the film keep up the momentum? Audiences gave the film an "A+" CinemaScore which bodes well for word of mouth. $200 million is not out of the question. We'll know more next weekend.
With Tron: Legacy tracking strong, it looks like a good holiday for the Walt Disney Studios.