Enchanted Box Office in store for Thanksgiving
Carl DiOrio

LOS ANGELES—Disney tends to own the long Thanksgiving box-office weekend, and this year should be no different. The studio bows its mostly live-action romance “Enchanted” Wednesday in more than 3,500 theatres, and pre-release tracking surveys show good title awareness and must-see interest.
Disney distribution president Chuck Viane said the Thanksgiving-frame debut for “Enchanted” reflects executives’ belief that the film will play broadly. “We’ve done that with so many of our very commercial and broadly appealing films, and this is definitely in that vein,” Viane said.
“Enchanted” begins with a 10-minute animated segment that morphs into live action for the balance of the film, in which an animated princess is thrust into real life. Music-filled and family-oriented, “Enchanted” is directed by Kevin Lima (“102 Dalmatians”), with Amy Adams (“Junebug”) and James Marsden (“X-Men: The Last Stand”) in lead roles.
Early reviews have been promising, and the film’s five-day box-office feast is expected to reach at least $35 million.
With Disney wielding such a firm grip on the Turkey Day drumstick, four other wide openers will slug it out for other positions around the holiday’s bountiful box-office table. Miramax also is expanding the Coen brothers’ “No Country for Old Men” to about 1,000 theatres on Wednesday, so things could start feeling like a messy food fight.
Good luck to holdovers from the previous frame, such as Paramount’s “Beowulf” and Fox Walden’s “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium,” in picking up sizable table scraps. But “Beowulf” at least offers the novelty of 3-D projection in one-fifth of its locations. So something on the order of a 50 percent hold from opening grosses should be possible during its second weekend, and that will be padded by heftier-than-usual weekday grosses thanks to student and workplace holidays.
“Magorium” seems less well positioned, relying mostly on family business and facing the unappetizing prospect of going up against “Enchanted” through the holiday session. DreamWorks/Paramount’s animated comedy “Bee Movie” also continues to play strongly, offering further competition for family admissions.