Disney’s `Brave’ shows mettle with $66.7M debut

LOS ANGELES — A new Disney princess has ascended to the box-office throne with a No. 1 debut for Pixar Animation’s “Brave.”

The latest from the makers of “WALL-E,” “Finding Nemo” and the “Toy Story” movies opened with $66.7 million domestically, according to studio estimates Sunday. “Brave” added $13.5 million in 10 overseas markets for a worldwide start of $80.2 million.

Featuring a feisty Scottish princess, “Brave” was the first of Disney’s Pixar animations with a female protagonist. And it left American hero Abraham Lincoln in the dust.

The 20th Century Fox action tale “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” opened far back at No. 3 with $16.5 million, behind “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted.”

DreamWorks Animation’s animated “Madagascar” sequel had been No. 1 for two weekends and added $20.2 million to raise its domestic total to $157.6 million.

“Brave” is the 13th-straight Pixar release to open at No. 1 since “Toy Story” launched Hollywood’s age of computer animation in 1995.

“Their track record is just unbelievable,” said Paul Dergarabedian, analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. “The Pixar brand just carries so much weight with the audience, it doesn’t matter almost what the story is about if it has the Pixar name.”

The weekend’s other new wide release, Steve Carell and Keira Knightley’s apocalyptic romance “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World,” misfired with just $3.8 million, debuting at No. 10.