Chicken Little flies at box office

Chicken Little, Disney's first fully computer-animated movie to be made without the help of long-term partners Pixar, made a better-than-expected $40.1m (£23m) to top the US box office at the weekend.



The film, which has received a lukewarm critical reception in the States, did better than Disney's own estimate of $30m but its opening was still significantly less impressive than recent Pixar offerings like The Incredibles, Finding Nemo or Monsters, Inc.




The tale of a talking chicken who believes the sky is going to fall in was always going to be compared to those movies because of Disney's long-running partnership with the computer animation specialists, which expires next year.



Little is voiced by Scrubs' Zach Braff, with Jon Cusack and Patrick Stewart providing support. Chuck Viane, the company's president of domestic theatrical distribution, described the figures as "pretty neat". "The public votes with their wallets and this is an affirmation that funny is money," he said.