'Moana' the princess cruises to top spot at box office with $81M
Also in Tattle: The Golden Horse Awards and Anthony Michael Hall
DISNEY IS having a big year at the box office.
With a string of huge hits and only a few 2016 turkeys, the Mouse House continued its run of No. 1s with Moana, about a princess' mythical journey in ancient Polynesia.
The animated feature, featuring the voice of Dwayne Johnson and original songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton, dominated the Thanksgiving box office with an estimated $81.1 million over the five-day weekend.
Already this year, Disney has notched four of the top six films (Finding Dory, Captain America: Civil War, Zootopia, The Jungle Book) and still has Star Wars: Rogue One coming in December.
Falling to second was J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which earned $65.8 million over the five-day weekend. The Harry Potter spinoff has brought in $156.2 million in two weeks. Overseas, Fantastic Beasts, debuted in China, where its $41.1 million fueled a weekend haul of $132 million internationally.
The Brad Pitt-Marion Cotillard World War II romance Allied opened with a mediocre $18 million over five days. For a proudly old-fashioned film built around the appeal of its stars, Allied was hindered by having to open without Pitt's promotional presence. The actor's divorce proceedings from Angelina Jolie largely eclipsed the film, which drew an audience 85 percent over the age of 25.
Warren Beatty did work hard to push his first film in 15 years, the 1950s Hollywood comedy Rules Don't Apply, but it resolutely bombed with $2.2 million over the holiday weekend. Written and directed by Beatty, who also co-stars as Howard Hughes, Rules Don't Apply is one of the worst debuts of a wide release in recent years.
With a $25 million budget, however, it could still recoup costs.
Bad Santa 2, didn't flop quite as badly, but it pulled in a scant $9 million over five days. The sequel, again starring Billy Bob Thornton, comes 13 years after the 2003 original.
In limited release, a number of potential awards contenders packed theaters. Debuting on a handful of screens were Lion ($32,092 per-screen average), with Dev Patel, and Miss Sloane ($21,000 per-screen average), with Jessica Chastain. Expanding from four to 48 screens was Manchester by the Sea, starring Casey Affleck. It took in $1.3 million with a per-screen average of $26,048.
And that little Doctor Strange movie took in another $16 million over the weekend to finish third, bringing its total over $205 million ($615 million worldwide).
In fifth place was Arrival, with $11.2 million, $62 million total.
TATTBITS
* In Taiwan, Veteran Chinese director
Feng Xiaogang
picked up the best director award for his social satire
I Am Not Madame Bovary
at the 53rd Golden Horse Awards, considered the equivalent of the Oscars for Mandarin-language cinema.
Feng's I Am Not Madame Bovary stars Fan Bingbing as a woman who spends a decade fighting China's bureaucracy to have her divorce nullified after being swindled by her ex-husband.
Best feature at Saturday's ceremony went to Zhang Dalei's The Summer Is Gone, about a boy's summer vacation in Inner Mongolia in the early 1990s set to the backdrop of shrinking jobs at state-owned companies during a time of economic reform. The film's 10-year-old actor Kong Weiyi took home the best new performer award.
The two lead actresses in the romantic drama Soul Mate shared the best actress award. Zhou Dongyu and Ma Sichun played two best friends whose relationship is tested when they fall in love with the same man.
Fan Wei won best actor for his performance in Mr. No Problem as the manager of a money-losing farm in Chongqing in the 1940s. Fan said he was grateful the jury had "perceived the subtleness I brought to the character."
* TMZ.com reports that Anthony Michael Hall (Sixteen Candles, Weird Science) got into a fight with his neighbor two months ago outside their Playa del Rey condos.
The L.A. County D.A. has charged Hall with felony battery with serious bodily injury, and the beat-down could land the Breakfast Club actor seven years in detention.
Er, prison.
- Daily News wire services
contributed to this report.
215-854-5678 @DNTattle