Disney (DIS 0.18%) topped the weekend box office in style, enjoying the best opening weekend its subsidiary Walt Disney Animation Studios has ever posted. The studio's new release, Wreck-It Ralph, took in more than $49 million in the Friday-Sunday period, according to data compiled by Box Office Mojo.
No. 2 belonged to another fresh release, the drama Flight, starring Denzel Washington. That film, distributed by Viacom's (NASDAQ: VIA) Paramount, earned a gross of just under $25 million over the weekend, Box Office Mojo said. It was open in only 1,884 theaters, compared to the 3,752 showing Wreck-It-Ralph.
Rounding out the top three was a veteran, Argo, now in its fourth week in theaters. The Ben Affleck-directed thriller about the CIA's rescue of American government workers from Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis, brought in slightly about $10.2 million, Box Office Mojo figures show. That film is distributed by Time Warner (TWX) subsidiary Warner Bros.
For the coming weekend, anticipation is high that Skyfall, the first James Bond film in nearly four years, will perform well. It has already grossed $287 million overseas, according to Box Office Mojo, and will open in American theaters later this week. It is distributed by Columbia, a division of Sony (SONY 1.10%).
