Santa Arrives Early – At Theaters, That Is

It´s an early Christmas for the Disney studio in their decision to release the film sequel “The Santa Clause Two” well before the holiday period. “The Santa Clause Two” starring Tim Allen is estimated to be earning $29 million in this weekend’s debut to lead box office income in North America. That’s more than double the opening weekend numbers for “I Spy” starring Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson.

Based on the 1960s television series, “I Spy” has a studio estimate of $14 million in North American theaters in its debut in third place.

The horror movie “The Ring” continued to do well in second place with $18.5 million. Last weekend’s top film “Jackass: The Movie,” fell to fourth place with $13.1 million.

Disney’s director of distribution Chuck Viane said of “Santa Clause Two” opening so far ahead of Christmas: “We just find in November, you can walk into any mall in America and it looks like Christmas already. A good movie can do well on any weekend of the year. The only thing we couldn’t do with this movie is to open it after Christmas.”

The movie opened locally this weekend as well.