Disney’s animation chief John Lasseter may be more readily associated with the Pixar brand, but he’s a sentimentalist and a student of animation history, which is why several years ago he put his weight behind The Princess and the Frog. It paid off, as Disney’s first hit hand-drawn 2D animated musical in some time soared to the top of the charts with $25m (£15.3m) in its first wide weekend, according to studio estimates. The film was already a winner in its first two weekends, frankly, when it was playing in two cinemas and averaging around $380,000 per site – a phenomenal amount.

As a 2-D feature, "Princess" income excelled over Disney’s previous traditionally-animated film "Brother Bear" that earned $19 million in the first weekend in 2003. As an animated film, "Princess" still cannot beat the CGI and technology-advanced films such as "Bolt" (2008) and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" (2009). Nevertheless, Chuck Viane, Disney Studio president of domestic distribution, said, "I don’t believe the audience seriously takes into consideration whether it’s 2-D or 3-D."

Disney has high hopes on "Princess" since it was released as the school holiday approaches. Viane thought that "Princess" will still do well next week despite having to compete with "Avatar" because the films have relatively different target audience.