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.

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.

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.

While "Ratatouille" easily dominated the weekend, it had the smallest debut among releases by Disney's Pixar Animation unit since 1998's "A Bug's Life," which opened with $33.3 million.

1. "Ratatouille," $47.2 million.

2. "Live Free or Die Hard," $33.15 million.

3. "Evan Almighty," $15.1 million.

4. "1408," $10.6 million.

5. "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," $9 million.

6. "Knocked Up," $7.4 million.

7. "Ocean's Thirteen," $6.05 million.

8. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," $5 million.

9. "Sicko," $4.5 million.

10. "Evening," $3.5 million.