LOS ANGELES — “The Princess and the Frog” earned a big wet kiss from family audiences as the animated musical leaped to No. 1 with $25 million in its first weekend of nationwide release, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Disney musical is the studio’s first hand-drawn animated tale in five years, a contrast to the computer-animated films that now dominate the cartoon world.

RELATED: Disney Turns “Princess And The Frog” Merchandise Into Big Business

“I’ve always believed that when you start with great storytelling, then the format aside doesn’t mean anything,” said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney.

The movie also is a return to Disney’s reinvention of classic fairy tales, offering a 1920s New Orleans twist on the Brothers Grimm story “The Frog Prince,” following the adventures of a young woman turned into a frog by a kiss from an amphibian.

Despite its No. 1 finish, “The Princess and the Frog” drew modest crowds compared to many big animated tales, which can open with two or three times as much business. Those films typically open during the busy summer season, though, and Disney is counting on the long shelf life that many films manage during the holidays.

“The Princess and the Frog” took over at No. 1 from the inspiring sports tale “The Blind Side,” which slipped to second-place with $15.5 million. Released by Warner Bros., “The Blind Side” raised its total to $150.2 million.

A surprise box-office sensation, “The Blind Side” is on its way to a domestic total of about $230 million, said Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. head of distribution.

“The Blind Side” chronicles the real-life story of Baltimore Ravens rookie lineman Michael Oher, who had been a homeless teen taken in by a wealthy couple (Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw).

“It’s the heartland that’s pulling the strings of the movie,” Fellman said. “While it’s performing well everywhere, the response in smaller marketplaces and Christian communities has been outstanding.”

The film opened the same weekend as “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” but with only a fraction of that movie’s blockbuster business. Audience word-of-mouth has kept crowds coming for “The Blind Side,” while “New Moon” has waned to the No. 4 spot with an $8 million weekend, raising its domestic haul to $267.4 million.

Warner Bros. also had the No. 3 film with a $9.1 million debut for another inspirational sports drama, Clint Eastwood’s Nelson Mandela saga “Invictus,” featuring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. Freeman stars as the South African leader, who uses an underdog World Cup run by the country’s rugby team to help unite the racially divided nation.

Though it had a modest start, “Invictus” debuted in the range of Eastwood’s sober drama’s “Mystic River” and “Million Dollar Baby” in their first weekends of wide release. Eastwood’s films draw older audiences and tend to have a long life at the box office, Fellman said.

“The Lord of the Rings” creator Peter Jackson had a strong opening in limited release for “The Lovely Bones,” which pulled in $116,000 in three theaters.

The Paramount Pictures release features Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and Stanley Tucci in an adaptation of Alice Sebold’s best-seller about a murdered girl looking back on her grieving family from the afterlife.

The Weinstein Co. drama “A Single Man” also started well with $216,328 in nine theaters. The film stars Colin Firth as a gay academic in the early 1960s who’s planning to end his life amid grief over his lover’s death.

RELATED: REVIEW: “The Princess And The Frog” Is Big Fun On The Bayou

Hollywood is poised for a big finish to its record box-office year, with James Cameron’s science-fiction epic “Avatar” opening Friday, followed Christmas week by the family comedy “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” Robert Downey Jr.’s action tale “Sherlock Holmes” and the nationwide expansion of George Clooney’s comedy “Up in the Air.”

With nearly three weeks left in the year, 2009 domestic revenues already have set a new record of $9.79 billion, surpassing the previous high of $9.68 billion in 2007, according to Paul Dergarabedian, Hollywood.com box-office analyst.

Domestic grosses should top $10 billion for the first time within the next 10 days or so. Dergarabedian estimates that Hollywood will finish the year with $10.5 billion domestically.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. “The Princess and the Frog,” $25 million.

2. “The Blind Side,” $15.5 million.

3. “Invictus,” $9.1 million.

4. “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” $8 million.

5. “Disney’s a Christmas Carol,” $6.9 million.

6. “Brothers,” $5 million.

7. “2012,” $4.4 million.

8. “Old Dogs,” $4.39 million.

9. “Armored,” $3.5 million.

10. “Ninja Assassin,” $2.7 million.

From CNN:

“The Princess and the Frog” is not just Walt Disney’s newest animated film, it’s also Disney’s latest marketing campaign.

With the movie opening on Friday, Disney has already spent weeks promoting, marketing and selling hundreds of film-inspired merchandise products just in time for the holidays.

From dolls to cookbooks to shampoo to bedding to jewelry to video games, Disney is working hard to saturate the market with more than 1,000 items.

“This is such an historic event for us. We are so excited about this. It’s exciting to be able to make good, inspired products from this event,” said Sheila Ullery, vice president of marketing for Disney Consumer Products. “‘The Princess and the Frog’ is a global opportunity for us on the consumer product side.”

The effort appears to be paying off for Disney. The company says it’s already begun out-selling previous Disney princess items by double-digit percentages. People are buying the items from Disney stores, DisneyStore.com and retailers nationwide, which is fueling the demand, according to Disney.

Click here to read more.

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“Princess & The Frog” Merchandise In High Demand

2009 has been a pretty tough year. The honeymoon with President Obama came to a screeching halt, the economy remained in bad shape, and there was an avalanche of celebrity deaths this summer. But it wasn’t all bad news! In the spirit of the holiday, here are 10 news stories we were thankful to read this year:

Judge Finds Government At Fault For Levees Breaking During Katrina -”In a ruling that could leave the government open to billions of dollars in claims from Hurricane Katrina victims, a federal judge said late Wednesday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had displayed “gross negligence” in failing to maintain a navigation channel — resulting in levee breaches that flooded large swaths of greater New Orleans.”

Why we’re thankful: This ruling will give New Orleans residents an opportunity to get financial help recovering from devastation that might have been avoided with better oversight. That’s justice.

Obama Signs Bill Expanding Hate Crime Laws To Cover Gay People – The measure expands current hate crimes law to include violence based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. To assure its passage after years of frustrated efforts, Democratic supporters attached the measure to the must-pass defense policy bill over the stern objections of many Republicans.

Why we’re thankful: Crimes perpetrated out of bias against people due to sexual orientation have been on the rise since last year. Thanks to the passage of this legislation, victims are now afforded protection under the law. While there’s more work yet to be done on the issue of gay rights, this is a start.

“Princess & The Frog” Merchandise In High Demand – “More than 45,000 dolls have sold in less than a month with 17,000 selling last week alone. At one major retailer, The Princess and the Frog bedding has sold nearly triple the amount of regular Disney Princess bedding. At Disney Store locations nationwide and DisneyStore.com, the Princess Tiana role-play dresses are selling above all other Disney Princess characters.”

Why we’re thankful: The more people vote with their wallets and support “The Princess and the Frog,” the more Disney will realize there is an audience out there for characters of color. Tiana may be the first and only Black Disney princess now, but with enough positive reinforcement, she won’t be the last.

Rihanna Speaks To Diane Sawyer About Chris Brown Beating – “Rihanna warned other women facing domestic violence to not let themselves become blinded by love. She also said she regretted going back to Brown, saying it sent the wrong message to her fans.”

Why we’re thankful: Rihanna’s willingness to speak out let young domestic violence victims know that they aren’t alone, and hopefully even gave some the courage to leave their abusers.

Landmark Health Care Bill Narrowly Passes The House – “The Democratic-controlled House has narrowly passed landmark health care reform legislation, handing President Barack Obama a hard won victory on his top domestic priority. Republicans were nearly unanimous in opposing the plan that would expand coverage to tens of millions of Americans who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry.”

Why we’re thankful: While we won’t know for a while what the Senate will decide on health care, the passage of this bill in the House brought the nation one step closer to caring for the health of all citizens at prices that won’t bankrupt families. We hope health care reform makes it all the way to President Obama’s desk.

“Precious” Breaks Box Office Records In Limited Release – “Oscar hopeful ‘Precious: Based On The Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire’ was a hit with audiences its opening weekend. The gritty inner-city drama, executive produced by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, made $1.8 million at 18 theaters in its first weekend of limited release, according to Variety. The film scored an average of $100,000 per theater — reportedly a record.”

Why we’re thankful: Overweight, dark-skinned, poor — people who meet these descriptions don’t often find their stories told in skinny, white-washed, and glamorous Hollywood. “Precious” not only changed the face of the movies, it did so while receiving widespread critical acclaim and box office success, showing that there’s room for a greater diversity of perspectives and actors in the mainstream.

Number Of Black Americans With 4-Year Degrees Reaches New High – Nearly 4.6 million African-Americans hold a four-year college degree, a new high, but a large racial gap in degree attainment still exists and does not appear to be shrinking, according to a report in the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

Why we’re thankful: Making strides in education can only mean future uplift for our community, and that’s something worth celebrating.

Mattel Introduces Black Barbies With More “Authentic Features” – “Mattel announced Tuesday that it is launching a line of black dolls with more ‘authentic facial characteristics’ than the company’s dolls have featured until now. The dolls, which are part of the ‘So In Style’ line have ‘fuller lips, a wider nose, more distinctive cheek bones and curlier hair,’ according to the world’s biggest toymaker.”

Why we’re thankful: Given the chance to see themselves reflected in their dolls, more little girls will undoubtedly come to see that beauty comes in all shades.

Lou Dobbs Leaves His Nightly Show -”CNN’s Lou Dobbs stepped down from his controversial role as an advocacy anchor at the network at the end of his show Wednesday night, saying he plans to seek a more activist role.”

Why we’re thankful: CNN is the network many look to for straight, unbiased news. Freed from Dobbs’ special brand of xenophobia and general craziness, CNN just became a little more trustworthy.

And finally, the one thing we’re as thankful for today as we were last year …

The president is (still) Black.

Happy Thanksgiving from NewsOne!

From Time:

Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements
With the voices of Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos and Keith David
Opens Nov. 25 (limited), Dec. 11 (wide)

The joke about the princess and the frog must be nearly as old as the original fable: she gives the homely amphibian a smooch, and rather than turning him into a handsome human, she instantly becomes a frog. Hardly less antique was the Disney company’s notion to turn the gag into a cartoon in the old, hand-drawn, “2-D” style. Disney introduced this feature-length format with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 and, over the next 60 years, just about perfected the mixture of story, illustration and pop music. Today, virtually nobody does animated features as original musicals. As for the technology, CGI — the computer-driven animation used in Pixar’s and DreamWorks’ hit movies — is the princess, and 2-D the frog.

But frogs have more fun. The Princess and the Frog, which opens Wednesday in New York and Los Angeles, and Dec. 11 in the rest of the country, is a start-to-finish delight. It proves that 2- can be more than 3-, when gifted filmmakers put old-fashioned snap back into animation. The lines are freer here, the character movements more supple, the sense of fun unfettered. The movie is a triumph for its directors and co-writers, John Musker and Ron Clements — the guys who jump-started Disney’s cartoon renaissance with The Little Mermaid in 1989 and created a whole new world with the 1992 Aladdin, then coasted (Hercules, 1997), flopped (Treasure Planet, 2002) and vanished. Entrusting an expensive, freighted project like this to a couple of 56-year-olds might seem like letting an Old Timer’s Day pitcher start a World Series game, but Musker and Clements show no sweat. Their piece has the lightness of an inspired improv session by New Orleans jazz masters.

Click here to read more.

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“Princess & The Frog” Merchandise In High Demand

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From ToyNewsMag.com:

Pre-film awareness boosts consumer products in the US giving good indicator of how property will be received in the UK.

Since its launch just a few weeks ago, retailers have reported that the range has already begun out-selling other Disney Princess items by double digit percentages.

More than 45,000 dolls have sold in less than a month with 17,000 selling last week alone. At one major retailer, The Princess and the Frog bedding has sold nearly triple the amount of regular Disney Princess bedding. At Disney Store locations nationwide and DisneyStore.com, the Princess Tiana role-play dresses are selling above all other Disney Princess characters.

The toys have also received industry praise as the Princess Tiana Just One Kiss doll topped FunFare magazine’s Holiday Hot Dozen and the Toys R Us Fabulous 15 holiday list.

Click here to read more.

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Disney’s First Black Princess Debuts At Theme Park

If Disney’s New Princess Is Black, Why Is Her Prince White?

Princess Tiana, star of the upcoming movie “The Princess and the Frog.” arrived at Disney World on October 26 in royal style, pulling up to Cinderella Castle in a horse-drawn coach. She was welcomed by Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and a whole troupe of familiar Disney characters. Tiana, whose movie will go into general release on December 11 after a limited premiere in November, is officially Disney’s ninth princess, joining the ranks of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Pochahontas, Jasmine and Mulan.

Princess Tiana, Prince Naveen, and Louie the Gator appear in an all-new show, “Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee,” featuring music from the movie, guest participation, and even an appearance from villian Doctor Facilier. The show takes place on the Liberty Belle Riverboat, which is transformed into a colorful New Orleans-themed showboat for the occasion.

Click here to read more.

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