Pixar Animation Studios/Walt Disney PicturesA scene from Pixar’s “Brave.”

Pixar’s first female protagonist didn’t hit a box office bull’s-eye, but she was no slouch, either: “Brave,” a fairy tale about an archery-loving Scottish princess, was No. 1 at North American theaters over the weekend, taking in about $66.7 million — a better-than-anticipated total albeit one that ranks on the low end of Pixar’s track record after adjusting for inflation.

The animation studio and its corporate parent, Walt Disney, had questions to answer with “Brave,” which cost $185 million to produce, according to the database Box Office Mojo. Could it quiet concerns, prompted by the critically savaged “Cars 2,” about a flickering of Pixar’s creative spark? (Yes and no;reviews were strong but not euphoric.) Would its princess theme repel little boys? (Too early to answer definitively.) Still, the opening-weekend result was on par with “Wall-E,” which ended up taking in over $521 million worldwide.

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