'Tangled' shines at North American box office

Disney's animated hit "Tangled" took the top spot in a low-earning weekend at the North American box office, outpacing a gentleman by the name of Harry Potter, preliminary data showed Sunday.

The long-haired Disney fable netted 21.5 million dollars, pushing past "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One."

The latest Potter instalment took in an estimated 16.7 million dollars from Friday to Sunday, Exhibitor Relations said, taking the film's total US earnings to 244 million dollars as it continues to set records around the world.

Taking it off in third place was "Burlesque." The musical extravaganza with Cher and Christina Aguilera brought in 6.1 million dollars.

"Unstoppable," starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine as two daring, blue-collar heroes trying to prevent a head-on collision with a runaway train full of hazardous materials, took fourth place with 6.1 million dollars in ticket sales.

In fifth place, the romantic comedy "Love and Other Drugs," starring Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal, netted 5.7 million dollars.

Meanwhile, Will Ferrell's super-villain comedy "Megamind" earned the sixth spot, netting 5.03 million dollars for the three-day stretch.

Roadtrip comedy "Due Date," featuring oddball travel companions Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis, came in seventh with 4.2 million dollars.

It was trailed by another strong premiere-week showing from "Faster," in eighth place with 3.8 million dollars.

"The Warrior's Way," a fantasy action tale with South Korea's Jang Dong-gun, Kate Bosworth and Geoffrey Rush, in its first weekend out, hit ninth place with 3.05 million dollars.

The crime drama "The Next Three Days" slipped to the number 10 spot. The Russell Crowe film about a couple figuring out what to do after the wife is accused of murder earned 2.65 million dollars.

mdl/jm