The musical fairy tale "Enchanted" gave the movie industry something to be thankful for over the holiday weekend: a hit.
The PG-rated Walt Disney Co. picture, starring Amy Adams as an animated princess whisked to modern-day, live-action Manhattan, grossed an estimated $50 million from Wednesday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, one of the biggest hauls ever for the Thanksgiving period.
"My wife and I went to four theaters in New York to see how the movie was playing and the response was amazing," producer Barry Josephson said. "Everybody understood the concept of a fairy tale with animated characters coming to life, but what caught people off guard was how funny it was."
Audiences were in the mood for holiday cheer, as the African American-oriented comedy-drama "This Christmas," from Sony Pictures' Screen Gems division, took in a surprisingly robust $27 million to rank No. 2.
Last weekend's top-grossing film, "Beowulf," the animated adventure based on the epic Old English poem, slipped to No. 3.
Overall receipts rose 3% from the extended Thanksgiving period in 2006, said Media by Numbers, in the wake of two weekends of year-over-year declines.
Disney often targets the Thanksgiving span to launch key pictures, whereas its rivals typically use the weekend before the holiday to get a head start. In 2006, for example, Thanksgiving weekend's top movies were holdovers "Happy Feet" from Warner Bros. and "Casino Royale" from Sony, while Disney's thriller "Deja Vu" was the strongest of the new releases.
The industry's five top openings ever for the holiday period all were distributed by Disney, including record-holder "Toy Story 2," which grossed $80.1 million in 1999. "Enchanted" ranks a distant second, followed by "A Bug's Life," "Unbreakable" and the 1996 version of "101 Dalmatians."
"Enchanted" drew a heavy contingent of family filmgoers, as expected, but Disney said it played broadly, with almost half the audience over age 25. Enthusiastic reviews helped: RottenTomatoes.com said 93% were positive.
The movie co-stars Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden and Susan Sarandon, but critics are calling it a star-making vehicle for Adams the way "Mary Poppins" was for Julie Andrews.
The modestly budgeted "This Christmas" benefited from grass-roots marketing. Screen Gems used activities such as singing contests at shopping malls to promote the movie, whose ensemble cast includes Delroy Lindo, Chris Brown and Mekhi Phifer.
