"Enchanted" charms audiences at weekend box office

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Disney's fairy-tale romantic comedy "Enchanted" charmed audiences over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend, taking in more than $50 million at the North American box office.

"Enchanted," which stars Amy Adams as a fairy-tale princess in modern-day New York City, collected $50.1 million for what Disney executives said was the second-highest five-day Thanksgiving weekend box-office tally.

The film's producer, Barry Josephson, credited the movie's better-than expected showing to its broad appeal to families and fresh approach, as well as Adams' performance as the wide-eyed princess coping on the mean streets of New York.

"Amy Adams really brought such a great spirit to the character. She truly has just this incredible exuberance you don't often see on screen," Josephson said. "She is a big surprise for people who don't know her. It's a breakout role."

Josephson said "Enchanted" brought in the highest five-day Thanksgiving weekend box office for a non-sequel, trailing only 1999's "Toy Story 2."

"We are ecstatic about it," said Mark Zoradi, president of Disney's motion picture group, who also praised performances by Adams and her co-star, Patrick Dempsey.

"It struck a chord in family movie-going, where it's not only great romantic comedy but it had all those little special things tying back to Disney history and music, and it just played across the board," he said.

The second spot on this weekend's box-office chart went to the family reunion film "This Christmas," a Screen Gems production distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment. It also outperformed expectations by drawing $27.1 million.