Penguins feast at Thanksgiving box office

Reigning champion "Happy Feet" and "Casino Royale" held up remarkably well over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend, taking the top two spots for the second consecutive frame with impressive estimated takes of $51.6 million and $45.1 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, Denzel Washington did his job opening another movie above the $20 million mark, with his time-travel thriller "Deja Vu" earning an estimated $20.8 million over the three-day portion of the weekend and $29 million for the five days.

Still, the Thanksgiving frame at the North American box office was down compared with last year at this time as even the strongest of this year's performers couldn't compete with "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," which reaped $81.2 million a year ago.

The five-day holiday frame this Thanksgiving earned an estimated $208 million for the top 12 films, a 3% drop-off compared with last year's take of $215.4 million.

Two films didn't perform as well as expected: "Deck the Halls" bowed to a relatively weak $16.9 million for the five days, while "The Fountain" battled with "Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny" for the 10th spot.

According to estimates, "Fountain" beat out "Tenacious D" for the three-day period. "Fountain," featuring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, grossed $3.72 million, while "Tenacious D," starring Jack Black and bandmate Kyle Gass, earned an estimated $3.27 million.

"Bobby" earned the ninth-place spot in its second-week expansion, but its five-day take of $6 million was below expectations.

Australian filmmaker George Miller's long odyssey making "Happy Feet" seems to have paid off, with the full holiday frame increasing the computer-animated penguin movie's 10-day gross to $100 million. With no other major animated movies set to enter the marketplace, Warner Bros.' PG-rated "Happy Feet" is likely to play strongly through the remainder of the year.