Box Office, Disney | featured news

Pixar’s “Cars 2” overcame surprisingly negative critical reviews to overperform at the weekend box office, selling an estimated $68 million at North American theaters. That No. 1 finish extends Pixar’s perfect box-office track record — all 12 of its feature films have opened in first place. How sales hold up, however, will be watched carefully. “Cars 2,” directed by John Lasseter, chief creative officer at Pixar, represents an end to the studio’s perfect critical track record; only about 34 percent of reviews were positive, according to RottenTomatoes.com, by far the worst for any Pixar title.

Tangled rid itself of any knots as it climbed to the top of the box office on Friday, grossing $5.1 million, according to early estimates. That’s a 74 percent drop from last Friday, which, mind you, was an enormous day for moviegoing. The PG animated musical should receive a decent bump on Saturday, as most family films do, and finish the weekend with about $21 million.

Woody and his pals have just elbowed aside the green ogre as Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3" climbed above Paramount/DreamWorks' "Shrek 2" to become the top-grossing animated film worldwide.

Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" dominated the pre-holiday weekend with a $25 million nationwide debut, pushing the frame up over the same weekend last year.

Hollywood planned a 2nd straight weekend friendly for family filmgoers who have pent-up demand. With 20% of K-through-12 out of school today, Pixar/Disney's 10th pic and first 3-D movie, Up, was able to get a jump on the domestic box office with busy matinees from 1,534 3-D theaters -- a record -- and a total of 3,766 theatres total.