Tangled, which opened in North America and a few other countries, dislodged Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 from the top position in North America over the weekend.
Megamind came in third place with a lofty $130 million grossed in four weeks.
All three films were aimed at pre-teen and teen audiences, with Tangled having a special appeal to young girls and women.
In recent years, many big budget films including Deathly Hallows are released worldwide to beat piracy but some like Megamind and Tangled have a roll-out release, waiting for a more suitable timeslot.
Disney recently said that it was retiring the fairy princess genre made famous by such films as Beauty and the Beast because such animated movies take a long time to develop and have become too costly. But the studio may reverse its position if Tangled becomes a huge hit overseas and its DVD and Blu-ray sales do well too.
After receiving the healing powers from a magical flower, the baby Princess Rapunzel is kidnapped from the palace Mother Gothel in Tangled. Mother Gothel has come to know that magical powers are now growing in the princess' golden hair.
By the time Rapunzel becomes a teenager, her hair has grown to 70 feet. She has no idea how her hair is going to play a role in shaping her destiny.
Not been able to step out of her confinement, Rapunzel is more than curious of the outside world. When the bandit Flynn Rider scales the tower and is arrested by Rapunzel, she decides to strike a deal which would mean a sort of freedom for both. Soon the two plunge into unchartered territories with one delightful adventure after another.
Hollywood trade believes that the word of mouth for the film has been terrific. Though it may not be able to come close to the projected $950 million worldwide gross for Deathly Hallows, insiders expect it to gross at least $600 million in theatres and make a decent but unspectacular profit.
Under normal circumstances, $600 million is a very good gross but Tangled -- in development for over six years -- reportedly costs $250 million, plus about $100 million for promotion.
Tangled earned 56 percent of its gross from 3-D showings, even though it had to share its 3-D screens with Megamind, according to Hollywood observers.
'And word-of-mouth couldn't be more favorable,' declared Entertainment Weekly, as CinemaScore audiences handed the animated film the first 'A+' grade of the year.
Reviewers and newspaper articles generally believed that while Tangled wasn't as alluring as some of Disney's enchanting films like The Little Mermaid, it was still quite an achievement.
'It provides further evidence that, with live-action movies increasingly opting for naturalistic grit,' declared The Washington Post, 'animation may be the last refuge for sheer, unapologetic beauty.'
New York Magazine called it 'Disney Animation's best outing in half a decade.'
It added: 'And it was owed, no doubt, to the repositioning of the Brothers Grimm chestnut as something appealing to young boys (Our hero: A bad-ass bandit whom chicks can't resist!) while still keeping Tangled a practically aerobic exercise in wish fulfillment for young girls.'
