Brave princess' Merida story opens with $80.2 million domestically on BrowseBiography

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Brave princess' Merida story opens with $80.2 million domestically

"Brave" added $13.5 million in 10 overseas markets for a worldwide start of $80.2 million.

A new Disney princess has ascended to the box-office throne with a No. 1 debut for Pixar Animation's "Brave." The Scottish Princess' Merida story opened with $66.7 million domestically, according to studio estimates Sunday, June 24th . "Brave" added $13.5 million in 10 overseas markets for a worldwide start of $80.2 million.


Featuring a red-haired feisty princess, "Brave" was the first of Disney's Pixar animations with a female protagonist. And it left American hero Abraham Lincoln in the dust. Unbelievable, huh ?! The 20th Century Fox action tale "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" opened far back at No. 3 with $16.5 million, behind last two weeks' No. 1 "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted."


"Brave" is the 13th-straight Pixar release to open at No. 1 since "Toy Story" launched Hollywood's age of computer animation in 1995. "Their track record is just unbelievable," said Paul Dergarabedian, analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "The Pixar brand just carries so much weight with the audience, it doesn't matter almost what the story is about if it has the Pixar name."


The weekend's other new wide release, Steve Carell and Keira Knightley's apocalyptic romance "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World," misfired with just $3.8 million, debuting at No. 10. Woody Allen's Italian romance "To Rome with Love" pulled in huge audiences in limited release, debuting with $379,371 in five theaters. That gave the Sony Pictures Classics release a whopping average of $75,874 a theater, compared to $16,028 in 4,164 cinemas for "Brave."


"Brave" features a voice cast led by Kelly Macdonald and Emma Thompson in a mother-daughter story of a young Scottish princess defying tradition that requires her to marry against her will. The film proved that audiences will turn up for a female hero, not just the male protagonists of past Pixar flicks, such as Woody and Buzz of "Toy Story," the robot of "WALL-E" or the rat and his chef buddy of "Ratatouille" which is filled with dark and dazzling turns.


"Brave" matched the $66.1 million debut of Pixar's "Cars 2," with male automotive lead Lightning McQueen, over the same weekend a year ago. "It is a phenomenal thing, these guys and their mastery of big storytelling and character development, delivering something that plays well to adults as well as kids, to girls as well as boys," Dave Hollis, Disney's head of distribution, said of Pixar.


Check out below the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included.

1. "Brave," $66.7 million ($13.5 million international).
2. "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted," $20.2 million ($30.1 million international).
3. "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," $16.5 million ($8.1 million international).
4. "Prometheus," $10 million ($12.7 million international).
5. "Snow White & the Huntsman," $8.01 million.
6. "Rock of Ages," $8 million.
7. "That's My Boy," $7.9 million.
8. "The Avengers," $7 million ($2.3 million international).
9. "Men in Black 3," $5.6 million ($10.5 million international).
10. "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World," $3.8 million.


 
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