Last week, I argued that Disney's (NYSE:DIS) Chicken Little "may be the most important Disney animated feature in years -- if not decades." There was plenty at stake over the weekend as the entertainment giant tried to shake its streak of disappointing self-inked theatrical releases. Would the film be a runaway smash and revitalize the company's in-house animation department? Or would it be a disaster, the final nail in Disney's cinematic-animation coffin?

It turns out that the initial results are good, but certainly not great. The movie took in an estimated $40.1 million domestically from Friday through Sunday. It was the top flick at the box office by a fair margin, and it's the biggest box office opening for a Disney-made animated feature since The Lion King in 1994. Every film that has opened at $40 million or better has managed to rake in at least $100 million. Chicken Little has also taken in more cash in one weekend than the colossal dud Treasure Planet did throughout its entire stateside run and will lap Home on the Range shortly.

However, the film also opened lower than the recent releases from DreamWorks Animation (NYSE:DWA) and Disney partner Pixar (NASDAQ:PIXR):

Opening Weekend
Domestic Gross
Shrek 2 $108 million
The Incredibles $70.5 million
Finding Nemo $70.3 million
Monsters, Inc. $62.6 million
Toy Story 2 $57.4 million
Shark Tale $47.6 million
Madagascar $47.2 million
Ice Age $46.3 million
Shrek $42.3 million
The Lion King $40.9 million
Data: Box Office Mojo

What may be more disheartening is that many of those entries were released years ago, when ticket prices were cheaper and when movies stuck around a bit longer. Mixed reviews may also play a part if there is a significant drop-off for Chicken Little next weekend.

Folks who doubted that Disney could make a mark in the computer-generated market dominated by Motley Fool Stock Advisor newsletter recommendations Pixar and DreamWorks can relax: It was just an acorn that dropped on your head.

In the meantime, though, the initial good news is exactly what Disney needed. Disney has created a decent stepping stone to start winning back its audiences after letting them down over the past few years with substandard drivel that lacked the substance, story, and stylistic elegance of its earlier classics, not to mention the crowd-pleasing stance that Pixar and DreamWorks seem to have down to an artistic science these days.

Let's hope Disney doesn't butcher the Chicken Little franchise with direct-to-video junk or spinoffs that may prove lucrative in the near term but sabotage the brand in the long term.

For now, let's just say: Nice shot, Disney. What else do you have?

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a huge fan of Disney and likes what he's seen so far in new CEO Bob Iger. He owns shares of Disney and Pixar. The Fool has a disclosure policy. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.