In the face of Disney buying yet another production company this week — that further raises questions about the studio’s willingness to continue producing its own movies, Lucasfilm joins Marvel, Pixar, and the Muppets under Disney’s umbrella, not to mentioned output deals with Dreamworks live-action films and Jerry Bruckheimer’s blockbusters — and competing with millions of people still without power and/or recovering from the Super Sandy storm Disney Animation’s 3D “Wreck-It Ralph” simply opened up and set a studio record for a Disney animation movie with more than $49 million.
That easily topped the weekend box-office and barely nudged another recent strong Disney-produced animated film, “Tangled,” which had nearly $49 mil. over the Fri-Sun of Thanksgiving weekend a couple years ago after a Wednesday opening. The first major studio 3D movie in the modern era, Disney’s “Chicken Little,” collected $40.1 mil. in 2005.
— By Scott Hettrick