Box office

Remember this headline: “Pixar art leaves profit watchers edgy”?

Richard Greenfield of Pali Research downgraded Disney shares to sell last month, citing a poor outlook for “Up” as a reason. “We doubt younger boys will be that excited by the main character,” he wrote, adding a complaint about the lack of a female lead.

Well, all you suits, financial ‘geniuses,’ and Wall Street ‘wizards,’ suck on this:

Disney/Pixar’s 3-D animated feature “Up” marked a second weekend atop the domestic boxoffice — the first film to manage such a feat this summer — rising above a couple of new pics with an estimated $44.2 million on the session.

“Up” declined just 35% from its first Friday-Sunday performance and totes a 10-day cumulative boxoffice of $137.3 million. Warner Bros.’ R-rated comedy “The Hangover” opened in second place with an impressive $43.3 million, and Universal’s Will Ferrell starrer “Land of the Lost” bowed in third with a disappointing $19.5 million.

Despite being an R-rated movie, The Hangover has generated enormous pre-release buzz. Up beat that movie.

And despite ads and promotional tie-ins everywhere, and a main character (Will Ferrell) “younger boys” would presumably be excited about and a female lead (Anna Friel), Up in its 2nd week more than doubled the B.O. numbers of Land of the Lost.

The Hangover’s numbers are excellent — and with a reported production budget of $35M, the movie will definitely cross over into profitability by the end of its theatrical run, leaving all the ancillary platforms as pure profit. But it’s in comparison to Land of the Lost, which comes across as not much more than a series of comic set pieces, that Up stands out. Because while there are many reasons for Up’s success, one of them is clearly the story: A fantastic journey, characters to care about, and at its core a simple, honest, yet engaging emotional world, all combined into a story with a satisfying beginning, middle and end.

Perhaps Mr. Greenfield of Pali Research needs to (ahem) Up-grade Disney’s stock.

UPDATE: In a surprising development, a big boost in Sunday evening ticket sales pushed The Hangover to the #1 position at the box office, $45M to Up’s $44.1M. Okay, so maybe I can’t be as self-righteous as I thought. However there’s always this:

“Up” has topped $137 million in just 10 days and is on track to become the latest $200 million blockbuster from Disney and Pixar, whose hits include “WALL-E,” “The Incredibles,” “Finding Nemo” and the “Toy Story” movies.

Still terrific numbers for Up.

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