娱乐英语新闻:Wizard, Prince dominate Thanksgiving weekend box office

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" and Disney's latest animated 3-D film "Tangled" have ruled the North America box office with a one-two punch, while Paramount's "Megamind" finished a distant third, the North America box office authority said on Sunday, based on projected movie ticket sales receipts.

The penultimate installment of the Harry Potter franchise, " Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" pulled in 50.4 million U.S. dollars 10 days into the screening, crossing the 220 million dollars benchmark.

The film is the top-grossing 10-day launch of the series, passing "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (201.2 million dollars). It also ranked third in terms of estimated attendance, behind "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Goblet of Fire. "

Actor Daniel Radcliffe is shown in a scene from the upcoming Warner Brothers film 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" in this publicity photo released to Reuters November 9, 2010.

"Tangled," a 3-D animated musical film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, is on track for a 49.1 million dollars opening, finishing at the second place.

As the 50th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series that is based loosely on the classic German fairy tale "Rapunzel" by the Brothers Grimm, the film opened in theaters in the United States and Canada on Nov. 24, picked up 11.9 million dollars on its opening Wednesday, breaking the record for the largest pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday opening of all time, a record previously held by Disney and Pixar's "Toy Story 2."

Over the traditional Wednesday-Sunday Thanksgiving holiday period, "Tangled," tallied 69 million dollars, finishing in second place. It also marked the second-largest 3-day and 5-day Thanksgiving opening after "Toy Story 2."

In the film, the long-haired Princess Rapunzel, who has spent her entire life in a tower, has to venture into the outside world for the first time to find a bandit with him she falls in love when he was passing by. It features voice-overs by Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi and Donna Murphy.

"Megamind," an animated superhero comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount, took in 11.8 million dollars over the Thanksgiving weekend, landing in third place. It is on track to garner 130.5 million dollars in ticket receipts in four weeks.

Rounding out the 10 most-popular movies are:

-- No.4: "Burlesque," Sony/Screen Gems, 11.8 million dollars this weekend, and 17.2 million dollars after a midweek opening;

-- No.5: "Unstoppable," Fox, 11.8 million dollars this weekend, 60.7 million dollars over three weeks;

-- No.6: "Love And Other Drugs," Fox, 9.9 million dollars this weekend, 14 million after a midweek opening;

-- No.7: "Faster," CBS Films, 8.7 million dollars this weekend, 12.2 million dollars after a midweek opening;

-- No.8: "Due Date," Warner Bros., 7.3 million dollars this weekend, 85 million dollars over four weeks;

-- No.9: "The Next Three Days," Lionsgate, 4.8 million dollars this weekend, 14.6 million dollars over two weeks; and

-- No.10: "Morning Glory," Paramount, 4 million dollars this weekend, and 26.5 million dollars over three weeks.