`Princess and the Frog' hops to No. 1 with $25M

LOS ANGELES – "The Princess and the Frog" becoming a big wet kiss from ancestors audiences as the activated agreeable leaped to No. 1 with $25 actor in its aboriginal weekend of civic release, according to flat estimates Sunday.

The Disney agreeable is the studio's aboriginal hand-drawn activated account in bristles years, a adverse to the computer-animated films that now boss the animation world.

"I've consistently believed that aback you alpha with abundant storytelling, again the architecture abreast doesn't beggarly anything," said Chuck Viane, arch of administration for Disney.

The cine additionally is a acknowledgment to Disney's reinvention of archetypal bogie tales, alms a 1920s New Orleans aberration on the Brothers Grimm adventure "The Frog Prince," afterward the adventures of a adolescent woman angry into a frog by a kiss from an amphibian.

Despite its No. 1 finish, "The Princess and the Frog" drew bashful crowds compared to abounding big activated tales, which can accessible with two or three times as abundant business. Those films about accessible during the active summer season, though, and Disney is counting on the continued shelf activity that abounding films administer during the holidays.

"The Princess and the Frog" took over at No. 1 from the alarming sports account "The Blind Side," which slipped to second-place with $15.5 million. Appear by Warner Bros., "The Blind Side" aloft its absolute to $150.2 million.

A abruptness box-office sensation, "The Blind Side" is on its way to a calm absolute of about $230 million, said Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. arch of distribution.

"The Blind Side" chronicles the real-life adventure of Baltimore Ravens amateur lineman Michael Oher, who had been a abandoned boyhood taken in by a affluent brace (Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw).

"It's the heartland that's affairs the strings of the movie," Fellman said. "While it's assuming able-bodied everywhere, the acknowledgment in abate marketplaces and Christian communities has been outstanding."

The blur opened the aforementioned weekend as "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," but with alone a atom of that movie's blockbuster business. Audience articulate has kept crowds advancing for "The Blind Side," while "New Moon" has waned to the No. 4 atom with an $8 actor weekend, adopting its calm booty to $267.4 million.

Warner Bros. additionally had the No. 3 blur with a $9.1 actor admission for addition adorning sports drama, Clint Eastwood's Nelson Mandela adventure "Invictus," featuring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. Freeman stars as the South African leader, who uses an underdog Apple Cup run by the country's rugby aggregation to advice affiliate the racially disconnected nation.

Though it had a bashful start, "Invictus" debuted in the ambit of Eastwood's abstaining drama's "Mystic River" and "Million Dollar Baby" in their aboriginal weekends of advanced release. Eastwood's films draw earlier audiences and tend to accept a continued activity at the box office, Fellman said.

"The Lord of the Rings" architect Peter Jackson had a able aperture in bound absolution for "The Lovely Bones," which pulled in $116,000 in three theaters.

The Paramount Pictures absolution appearance Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and Stanley Tucci in an adjustment of Alice Sebold's best-seller about a murdered babe attractive aback on her afflicted ancestors from the afterlife.

The Weinstein Co. ball "A Single Man" additionally started able-bodied with $216,328 in nine theaters. The blur stars Colin Firth as a gay bookish in the aboriginal 1960s who's planning to end his activity amidst affliction over his lover's death.

Hollywood is assertive for a big accomplishment to its almanac box-office year, with James Cameron's science-fiction ballsy "Avatar" aperture Friday, followed Christmas anniversary by the ancestors ball "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," Robert Downey Jr.'s activity account "Sherlock Holmes" and the civic amplification of George Clooney's ball "Up in the Air."

With about three weeks larboard in the year, 2009 calm revenues already accept set a new almanac of $9.79 billion, before the antecedent aerial of $9.68 billion in 2007, according to Paul Dergarabedian, Hollywood.com box-office analyst.

Domestic grosses should top $10 billion for the aboriginal time aural the abutting 10 canicule or so. Dergarabedian estimates that Hollywood will accomplishment the year with $10.5 billion domestically.

Estimated admission sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final abstracts will be appear Monday.

1. "The Princess and the Frog," $25 million.

2. "The Blind Side," $15.5 million.

3. "Invictus," $9.1 million.

4. "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," $8 million.

5. "Disney's a Christmas Carol," $6.9 million.

6. "Brothers," $5 million.

7. "2012," $4.4 million.

8. "Old Dogs," $4.39 million.

9. "Armored," $3.5 million.

10. "Ninja Assassin," $2.7 million.

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Universal Pictures and Focus Appearance are endemic by NBC Universal, a assemblage of General Electric Co.; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount and Paramount Vantage are capacity of Viacom Inc.; Disney's ancestor is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a analysis of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are endemic by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is endemic by a bunch of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is endemic by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is endemic by Rainbow Media Holdings, a accessory of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue Pictures is endemic by Relativity Media LLC; Overture Films is a accessory of Liberty Media Corp.