'Tangled' scores strong opening for Disney Animation

After nearly a decade of being overshadowed by Pixar and DreamWorks, Disney Animation Studios has found its box office dream come true.

"Tangled," the six-years-in-the-making 3-D animated feature based on the Rapunzel fable, opened to a strong $69 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend.

That makes it the first out-of-the-gate hit in more than a decade for the storied Burbank animation house, which has suffered through a string of disappointments and flops in recent years.

It easily topped a trio of other new films that all had soft openings, according to studio estimates. The Christina Aguilera-Cher musical "Burlesque" did the best of the three, launching to $17.2 million over five days, but it was also the most expensive to produce. The Jake Gyllenhaal-Anne Hathaway romantic drama "Love & Other Drugs" started with $14 million, while the Dwayne Johnson action flick "Faster" took in $12.2 million.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1" was No. 1 at the box office again, as expected. However, its $76.2 million five-day take was less than that of 2005's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," despite five years of ticket price inflation. Although data suggests interest may be waning faster than previous "Potter" sequels, "Deathly Hallows" has nevertheless tallied an impressive domestic total of $220.4 million, making it yet another success in the series.

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