Weekend Box Office: Yes, Disney can!
Just over a year ago, America shocked many doubters in electing a black president; now, the country has made the first Disney movie with an African-American protagonist the #1 movie in the country. We’ll leave history to judge which is the more significant achievement, but for now, The Princess And The Frog reigns supreme with a $25 million take in its first week in wide release. (Disney’s strategy of opening the film first in two theaters in major cities, as if it were the latest from Hou Hsiao-hsien and not from the dominant brand in children’s entertainment, appears to have paid off in some indiscernible way.) The week’s other wide release, Clint Eastwood’s Invictus, opened with a more modest $9 million haul, though that number could hold steady depending on word-of-mouth and the film’s performance during awards season.