Pixar held on to its legacy at the top of the animation heap with yet another number one movie. Wall-E opened large this weekend and with over $62 million the little robot earned the third largest opening of year to date (right behind the year’s untouchable champions Iron Man and Indiana Jones: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).
$62 million is also one of the strongest opening weekends for a Pixar flick, but Wall-E is going to need it. With a budget of almost $200 million it’s the most expensive project to ever roll out of the studios’ doors. While their animated gems always rake in plenty of cash world wide, this just might be the first of their movies that doesn’t cover its costs on domestic sales alone.
Wall-E wasn’t the only one to have a good weekend. Despite strong competition from the animated robot and a grim ‘R’ rating, Wanted blasted its way to the number two spot with a more than respectable $51 million. Most rated ‘R’ movies struggle to break the $50 million mark on opening and only seven have ever managed it.
Despite its star studded cast and impressive stunts and special effects Wanted is a case study in economics. The $75 million budget is impressively small for a film of this magnitude and it’s easily going to prove itself as one of the more profitable movies of the summer.
Kung Fu Panda continued its march to the bank, inching closer to becoming the third movie this year to break $200 million (again, see Iron Man and Indy for the other two in the club). At $179 million it should cross the line in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile The Love Guru dropped sharply to sixth place, showing only a meager $5 million for the weekend and $25 million to date. Unless international sales show the guru some love things look bleak for Myer’s latest fizzled drama.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP TEN June 27 - 29, 2008
LW = Last Week WR = Weeks Released THTRS = Number of Screens * Denotes new release. Click on title to read CB Review
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