Audiences choose a little chicken

By Joshua Tyler Nov 6, 2005, 21:33 GMT

Chicken Little conquers the U.S. box office

The initial weekend box office estimates are in and Disney's back on top. Friday night saw the week's two big openers, 'Chicken Little' and 'Jarhead' running neck and neck, with a solid single night take of $10 million each. But by Sunday families were out in force to support Disney's first computer animated motion picture, and 'Chicken Little' handily captures the weekend's number one spot with a big $40 million take while 'Jarhead' lands in the number two spot with a little more than $28 million.

Both movies ultimately exceeded most expectations as the American box office continues to shake off the effects of a prolonged ticket sales slump. In the case of 'Chicken Little' it succeeded in spite of almost universally negative reviews from the press, helped perhaps by Disney's massive marketing campaign focused on their cute little chicken lead character. Meanwhile, 'Jarhead' may have come in second to animated poultry, but it beat 'Chicken Little's' per screen average, making $11,924 to 'Chicken Little's' $10,970'.

Last week's openers also continued to do well. 'Saw II' dropped to the number three spot after it's $30 million opening last weekend, but still managed a nice $17.2 million take. 'Prime' came in at number five, but saw only a 15.4% drop in ticket sales from last week. With a strong second week performance like that, expect it to hang around awhile in spite of its initially weak opening last weekend.

This was also a big weekend for limited release expansion. Both 'Shopgirl' and 'Good Night, and Good Luck' went wider this week to reach more audiences. As a result, both placed in the top ten for the first time.

Next weekend another family movie arrives to challenge 'Chicken Little', Clive Owen cheats on his wife with Jennifer Anniston in 'Derailed', and rapper Fifty Cent gets shot in his big screen debut 'Get Rich or Die Tryin' '

Here's a more detailed look at the early estimates for this weekend's top ten earners here in the United States: