By Kofi Outlaw

Disney scored its second Thanksgiving weekend record, with its animated/live-action hybrid ENCHANTED charming its way to $50 million opening, the second best turkey-holiday debut ever, behind TOY STORY 2’s $80.1 million bow in 1999.

The impressive debut both confirms that Patrick “McDreamy” Dempsey’s (GREY’S ANATOMY) star power extends beyond the small screen, and should catapult co-star and Oscar-nominated actress Amy Adams (JUNEBUG), into the limelight where she belongs. That girl has been quietly turning in impressive work for some time now (THE OFFICE, TALLADEGA NIGHTS), and I like to see deserving people get their due.

Coming in at No. 2 was unexpected success story THIS CHRISTMAS, which took in an unimaginable $27.1 million, continuing to prove that the market for African-American cast family films is thriving quite nicely. No. 3 spot went to BEOWULF, which scared up a nice $23.3 million in its second week. Videogame-gone-action-flick HITMAN debuted the No. 4 spot, with an impressive $21 million opening—$20.9 million of that revenue most likely from young boys. BEE MOVIE rounded out the top 5 with $16 million, boosting it past the century mark to a cumulative domestic gross of $112.1 million.

Other noteworthy box office news, musical drama AUGUST RUSH, and Stephen King thriller THE MIST, rounded out the No. 7 and No. 8 spots respectively, the latter grossing a weak $13 million, despite catering to a built-in audience of Kingophytes. Overall the box office was up two percent from the holiday weekend of last year, with even leftover fare like FRED CLAUS (No. 6), AMERICAN GANGSTER (No. 9), and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (No. 10), bringing in the dough. Guess the warm weather wasn’t enough to keep people out of the theaters. Kudos to you, Hollywood. Hopefully Christmas will be as giving.