'Tangled' Overtakes Harry Potter at US B-O

DEC 6, 2010 - The post-Thanksgiving doldrums were in full effect over the weekend. Tangled climbed past Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, though neither held well. Hollywood generally shuns the post-Thanksgiving period in regards to new releases, and it was no exception this weekend: The Warrior's Way was the sole nationwide debut collecting a miserable US$3 million and making the No. 9 spot on the list below Megamind (No. 7) and Due Date (No. 8).

Overall business was down 14 percent from the same weekend last year when The Blind Side led, and it was the least-attended post-Thanksgiving weekend since 1997.

Tangled drew an estimated US$21.5 million, tumbling 56 percent from last weekend. Walt Disney Pictures last Thanksgiving princess event, Enchanted, was off 52 percent at the same point, grossing less but selling more tickets. In 12 days, though, Tangled has generated US$96.5 million, which was well ahead of Enchanted's comparable $80.9 million tally, and it will soon surpass The Princess and the Frog's US$104.4 million final total.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Dec 3-5, 2010 weekend, in terms of rank, Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo.

1. Tangled (Buena Vista) $21.5 million ($96.5 million) 2

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (WB) $16.7 million ($244.2 million) 3

3. Burlesque (Sony / Screen Gems) $6.1 million ($27.0 million) 2

4. Unstoppable (Fox) $6.1 million ($68.9 million) 4

5. Love and Other Drugs (Fox) $5.7 million ($22.6 million) 2