Audiences Fall in Love with Enchanted
November 26, 2007

Disney proved that they are still the number one studio for families over the Thanksgiving weekend, turning their new attempted franchise, Enchanted, into a major hit, one of the biggest of the year. Amy Adams stars in Enchanted as an animated princess who comes to the real world and finds adventure with Patrick Dempsey. With no bonafide box office stars in the film, Enchanted was sold on its clever concept and the incredible power of Disney and it completely clicked with audiences, demolishing all competition over the turkey day weekend and setting a record for the holiday. According to Box Office Mojo, Enchanted made an estimated $50 million over the five-day weekend and $35.3 million from Friday to Sunday. The record set would be for a live-action Thanksgiving opener. The previous record holder was Unbreakable seven years ago. The number one movie for the holiday overall is Toy Story 2 in 1999. The amazing statistic related to Thanksgiving openers is that of the top ten of all time, eight were made by Disney. Turkey and the mouse go together.

Enchanted completely dominated in terms of total digits, but even the Amy Adams flick might have to take second place when it comes to the biggest box office story of the weekend. That might go to This Christmas, the Regina King flick which came in second overall but actually won the battle when it comes to per screen average. This Christmas made $27.1 million in its first five days of release but played on almost 2,000 less screens than Enchanted. This Christmas, which also stars Delroy Lindo, Idris Elba, and Chris Brown, was made for only $13 million. You won't find many films that can double their budget in the first five days of release. It's a major hit.

More in the gray area of success would be Hitman, which opened in fourth place and made an estimated $21 million over the five-day weekend. Hitman couldn't beat the second weekend of Beowulf, which added another $23.3 million over the holiday and has made $56.4 million in its first ten days of release. There were two other openers, both of which were mostly dead on arrival - August Rush and The Mist. Rush came in seventh place on a five-day gross of $13.3 million and Frank Darabont and Stephen King's The Mist came in right behind on $13 million. That's not an awful gross for the first five days but an eighth place opening for the highly marketed The Mist has to be seen as a disappointment. Perhaps opening horror on a weekend when families were clearly going to the theater might not have been the best idea.

Other films in the top ten included, according to Box Office Mojo, Bee Movie ($112.1 million to date), Fred Claus ($53.1 million to date), American Gangster ($115.8 million to date), and No Country For Old Men ($16.6 million to date). This weekend sees the release of only one major new movie - Awake with Hayden Christensen - and the expansion of a few already released films, so most of the big hits from this weekend should hold over for at least one more.