'Princess and the Frog' reigns over the box office

By Sarah Sluis

Opening precisely in line with expectations, The Princess and the Frog earned $25 million in its first week in wide release. The movie skewed towards females and those under 25. Although this is Disney's first movie with a black princess, the studio said they didn't track ethnicity in its polls, perhaps because they didn't want this film's performance to be gauged according to its appeal among black audiences.

The Blind Side had another stellar weekend, dropping a slim 22% to earn another $15.4 million. The modestly budgeted movie has brought in over $150 million, making it an end-of-year success story.

The other movie trying to marry sports to a more weighty subject, Invictus, opened to just $9 million. Two of Clint Eastwood's recent directorial projects, Gran Torino and Million Dollar Baby, used long platform releases, making comparison difficult. Changeling, however, opened in a small number of theatres before expanding to a $9 million weekend. Its cumulative gross? $35 million. A similar fate may be in store for Invictus, but its superior reviews to Changeling (77% on Rotten Tomatoes to Changeling's 61%) could push it above the 2008 film's total.

Weinstein Co.'s A Single Man debuted in 9 theatres to a per-screen average of $24,000. The Lovely Bones, on four screens, had a per-screen average of $38,600, but its cumulative gross was $116,000 to A Single Man's $216,000. Each came from a different corner of the film marketplace. A Single Man is a recent festival acquisition that went straight from its September premiere in Toronto to theatres this December. It's a quiet film that has generated substantial praise from critics. The Lovely Bones was a big-budget adaptation, but the movie's most expensive parts--the CGI sequences--have been greeted with noses wrinkled in disgust. Rolling Stone compared Jackson's heaven to a Claritin commercial. This movie ranks among my biggest disappointments this year, but its solid opening bodes well for its box office.

Up in the Air nudged closer to the top ten this weekend, adding 57 theatres for a 72-theatre run. It earned $2.4 million and an impressive $34,000 per screen. The layoff-centered comedy has been accruing a sizable amount of nominations and awards. From my perspective, it's a shoo-in for one of the ten Best Picture nods.

This Friday, all eyes will be on Avatar's premiere, with romantic comedy Did You Hear About the Morgans? providing some counter-programming. Nine and Crazy Heart will also make their debut on select screens.