By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer
from YAHOO! NEWS

LOS ANGELES - Disney has put a rodent on top of the box office, though not the studio’s venerable mascot, Mickey Mouse.

“Ratatouille,” an animated comedy about a gourmet rat that gets a chance to cook in a French restaurant, debuted as the No. 1 weekend movie with $47.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

20th Century Fox’s action thriller “Live Free or Die Hard,” Bruce Willis’s return as unstoppable cop John McClane, opened in second-place with $33.15 million. Since opening Wednesday, the movie has grossed $48.2 million.

In narrower release, Michael Moore’s health care documentary “Sicko,” released by the Weinstein Co. and Lionsgate, took in $4.5 million in its nationwide debut to finish at No. 9. The movie opened in one New York City theater a week earlier.

Focus Features’ family drama “Evening,” with an all’star cast that includes Meryl Streep, Vanessa Redgrave, Glenn Close and Claire Danes, opened at No. 10 with $3.5 million.

The previous weekend’s No. 1 movie, Universal’s “Evan Almighty,” fell to No. 3 with $15.1 million, raising its 10-day total to $60.6 million. The movie’s sharp 52 percent fall from opening weekend dims the studio’s prospects for recouping the enormous $175 million production budget for the film.

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