“Tangled” loses by a hair to “Harry Potter”

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 repeated box office dominance over Thanksgiving weekend inching into first place over animated family feature Tangled. Minor benchmarks were broken between the two, though the ultimate crown, besting last year’s "Twilight" film in overall business was not won. Business was down compared to last Thanksgiving and this newest “Harry Potter” film showed a drop in overall attendance.

Still, due to ticket price inflation the entry is still blasting away at its predecessors' 10-day hauls. “Deathly Hallows” summoned another $76 million from the midweek holiday to Sunday and has $220 million domestic to date. That is dwarfed by its international haul of $389 million, bringing the grand total to $609 million. Those numbers are enough to make a person consider film school.

Tangled wasn’t the mess its title foreshadowed. The princess picture based on an old fairy tale brought in $69 million in family and children’s tickets. The obscure princess delivered an opening only bested by Toy Story 2, a movie with a solid foundation to build its gross on. The next three contenders did not fair so well. Burlesque did draw older women but only to the tune of $17.5 million.

Love and Other Drugs wasn’t much of a high. Anne Hathaway was able to nab approximately $14 million in sales while Faster, a high-octane action flick, rumbled into seventh place with a mere $12 million. So much for an action comeback for The Rock.

The Top Ten (Wednesday-Sunday)

1.  1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1- $76.2M (weekend)…$220.3M (gross)
2.  2. Tangled - $69.0M…$69.0M
3.  3. Megamind - $17.5M…$130.4M
4.  4. Burlesque - $17.1M…$17.1M
5.  5. Unstoppable - $16.1M…$60.7M
6.  6. Love and Other Drugs - $14.0M…$14.0M
7.  7. Faster - $12.2M …$12.2M
8.  8. Due Date - $10.4M…$85.0M
9.  9. The Next Three Days - $6.6M…$14.5M
10. 10. Morning Glory - $5.4M …$26.4M

Both “Harry Potter” and Tangled will continue to rock the box office in December’s first weekend when The Warrior’s Way wages against 1,500 cinemas and Black Swan darkens a mere 19 doorsteps. The Warrior’s Way is a peculiar looking western starring an unknown -- at least in America -- in the titular role. Kate Bosworth and Geoffrey Rush round out the cast, however the emphasis in advertising is on the spectacular visuals and martial arts.

Sngmoo Lee is behind the camera and the pen of the movie. He is a first timer working with Dong-gun Jang, an international film star out of South Korea. The look is a tad silly and overwrought, with our hero going on the run after failing to kill a baby, the last of his rivals’ clan. He somehow seems to make his way to the Wild West where he takes on an enormous army of ninjas--- think Mr. Smith of The Matrix fame. It's at so few theaters this little picture that it won’t grab higher than third position in the upcoming box office battle.

The Oscar race continues to get underway with another frontrunner joining the fray. Darren Aronofsky presents Black Swan in limited release. The look and tone has the same sadness, beauty, and tragedy of Requiem for a Dream. The movie is hot on the list of indie films to see, but few will get an opportunity due to a slow rollout into awards season.