Once Upon a Big Box Office...

The holiday box office finally got its fairy-tale start.

Enchanted, the Disney princess adventure that aimed to poke fun at Disney princess adventures, grossed nearly $50 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, per studio figures compiled Monday by Exhibitor Relations. (Officially, the animated/live-action combo, starring Amy Adams and Susan Sarnadon, tallied $49.1 million from Wednesday to Sunday.)

Pound for pound, though, the family comedy-drama This Christmas was a big gobbler. Playing on about half as many screens as Enchanted, This Christmas pulled in $26.3 million from Wednesday to Sunday and averaged a better-than-Enchanted $9,665 at each of its theaters from Friday to Sunday.

Enchanted conjured most of its green from Friday to Sunday, when it earned $34.4 million. That take was smaller than last year's top Thanksgiving movie—in its second weekend, 2006's Happy Feet commanded $37 million during the same three-day period—but was big enough to turn around Hollywood's unhappy holiday season.

For the first time since the twin debuts of Bee Movie and American Gangster, the weekend box office was up over last year. Thanksgiving 2007 topped Thanksgiving 2006, not with more big hits but with more titles that, by sheer determination and/or theater count, huffed and puffed their way past the $10 million mark. Last year, five movies grossed at least eight figures; this year, six hit the magic mark.

Beowulf (third place, $16.5 million Friday-Sunday; $23.6 million Wednesday-Sunday) was among the $10 million-plus club. But the motion-capture animated epic poem, ousted from the top spot after one weekend, still doesn't look to be an epic performer. With an overall take of $56.6 million, it still hasn't grossed as much in two weekends as the likeminded 300 grossed in one weekend.  

The mix of religion and ammo rounds made Hitman the R-rated alternative to the pink-hued Enchanted. But the counterprogramming was only good for a fourth-place debut ($13.2 million Friday-Sunday; $21.1 million Wednesday-Sunday).

Two other new movies made do with leftovers. August Rush, the family drama about an orphaned musical prodigy, finished seventh ($9.4 million Friday-Sunday; $13.2 million Wednesday-Sunday). The Mist, a Stephen King-spawned horror tale, bowed in ninth ($9 million Friday-Sunday; $12.9 million Wednesday-Sunday).

Tom Cruise, Robert Redford and Meryl Streep were starved out of the top 10 when the three-weekend-old Lions for Lambs took in just $1.2 million from Friday to Sunday. To date, the movie has grossed $13.8 million. Cruise, for one, hasn't starred or costarred in a film that has made less than Lions for Lambs since he was 20 and in Losin' It. 

The nation's retailers, meanwhile, better hope they have a more substantial Christmas than Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium ($7.9 million, Friday-Sunday; $22.2 million overall), which lasted all of one week in the top 10.

Elsewhere, Bee Movie (fifth place, $11.8 million Friday-Sunday; $111.9 million overall) and American Gangster (eighth place, $9 million Friday-Sunday; $115.6 million overall) padded their résumés, while the Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men (10th place, $7.9 million Friday-Sunday; $16.3 million overall) added to its legend in its wide-release debut.

In limited release, the ticket-buying buzz wasn't quite there for the much anticipated Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There ($730,819 Friday-Sunday at 130 theaters). It wasn't that I'm Not There's per-screen average of $5,622 was bad; it was that the demand for the likes of Margot at the Wedding ($376,837 Friday-Sunday at 35 theaters) was much bigger.

Here's a rundown of the top 10 films based on final Friday-Sunday (and Wednesday-Sunday) figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Enchanted, $34.4 million ($49.1 million)
2. This Christmas, $18 million ($26.3 million) 
3. Beowulf, $16.5 million ($23.6 million)
4. Hitman, $13.2 million ($21.1 million)
5. Bee Movie, $11.8 million ($15.8 million)
6. Fred Claus, $10.6 million ($14.9 million) 
7. August Rush, $9.4 million ($13.2 million)
8. American Gangster, $9 million ($12.5 million)
9. The Mist, $8.9 million ($12.9 million)
10. No Country for Old Men, $7.9 million ($10.8 million)

(Originally published Nov. 25, 2007 at 4:37 p.m. PT.)