Although Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 topped the box office on yesterday’s pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday with $14.4 million, Disney’s new animated film Tangled scored an impressive $11.5 million in its first day in 3,603 theaters nationwide, the highest pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday opening ever, bringing in more money than the previous holder of that record, Toy Story 2 back in 1999. Toy Story 2 went on to gross $80.5 million over the five-day holiday, although Tangled will probably settle comfortably in second place for the Thanksgiving holiday with roughly $60 to 65 million (or more!) by Sunday. Disney’s previous Thanksgiving hit was Enchanted in 2007, which opened with just under $8 million on Wednesday and ended up with $49 million over the five days.
The Screen Gems musical Burlesque, starring Christina Aguilera and Cher, took third place for the day with $2.8 million and is probably looking at a five day take of $18 to 20 million.
Neither the Anne Hathaway-Jake Gyllenhaal dramedy Love and Other Drugs (20th Century Fox) nor the Dwayne Johnson action thriller Faster (CBS Films) did particularly well yesterday with $2.1 and 1.6 million, respectively, and both are expected to end up with less than $15 million over the five days.
Check back on Sunday for the full Thanksgiving box office report and wrap-up.
