The sky isn't falling. It's just raining cash. Disney's Chicken Little raked in a healthy $40.1 million this weekend, according to estimates from Nielsen EDI box office trackers.

LONDON — A sense of magic and excitement was in the air in London's Leicester Square on Sunday as Harry Potter fans waited in the rain to greet cast members attending the premiere of the latest Potter film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Jarhead director Sam Mendes' third screen outing pretty well nails the tone of Anthony Swofford's best-selling boo of the same name, which was mordant without being disrespectful, and, in fact, is begrudgingly reverent of the Corps. (As they say, once a Marine, always a Marine.)

As creature features go, lusciously pigmented, child-friendly Chicken Little is no Howard the Duck. But it also isn't quite the computer-animated home run Disney really needs post-Pixar, despite its inclusion of a long baseball sequence, aliens and a whole lot more.

Pushy or overprotective parents have become fixtures in recent animated films, from Shrek 2 and Finding Nemo to The Incredibles and Robots. That contrasts with absent parents, who were a hallmark of Disney animation from classics such as 1942's Bambi up to 2002's Lilo & Stitch.

In Chicken Little, a father is embarrassed by the chaos that occurs when Chicken proclaims that the sky is falling — and he fails to support his son when he needs it most. Other recent 'toons that deal with the disconnection between parents and children.

This holiday season, Hollywood has decided to go for understatement rather than decking the big screen in red and green like some tacky Christmas sweater. The so-called most wonderful time of year is used as a mood enhancer, going for the pine-scented spray rather than the whole needle-dropping fir.

Three major releases this holiday season — two homecomings rated PG-13 and a comedic crime caper rated R — actually unfold during Christmas time, although the plots don't hinge on the calendar date.

This holiday season, there aren't many gifts for the kiddies: another Harry Potter chapter, The Goblet of Fire, and the Disney dazzler The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. But nothing screams, "Merry Christmas."

This week, a special two-disc edition of Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith hits shelves. Also, an old ABC special featuring Frank Sinatra singing with Dean Martin and Bing Crosby will be released.

NEW YORK — Random House and Focus Features announced Thursday that have formed Random House Films. "This partnership affords us unprecedented and exciting access to a wealth of material from which great movies can be made," according to a statement by Focus Co-Presidents David Linde and James Schamus.