There are some very happy people today at DreamWorks Animation this morning, given how well “Kung Fu Panda” did this past weekend.
Copyright 2008 DreamWorks Animation. All Rights Reserved
This Mark Osborne / John Stevenson took in an estimated $60 million over the past three days. Which not only gives DWA its third best opening film ever (Only “Shrek the Third” and “Shrek 2” did better over their opening weekends, earning $121.6 million and $108.0 million respectively), but also puts “Kung Fu Panda” in third place for the biggest opening weekend gross (to date) for 2008.
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Film Title
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Opening Weekend Gross
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“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”
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$100.1 million
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“Iron Man”
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$98.6 million
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“Kung Fu Panda”
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$60 million (estimated)
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“Sex and the City”
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$57.0 million
|
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“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”
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$55.0 million
|
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“Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who”
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$45.0 million
|
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“Cloverfield”
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$40 million
|
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“You Don’t Mess with the Zohan”
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$40 million
|
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“10,000 B.C.”
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$35.8 million
|
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“Hanna Montana / Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Film”
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$31.1 million
|
Just in case you were wondering how “Kung Fu Panda” ‘s opening weekend gross stacked up against all of the other CG animated features that have ever been released, here’s that chart.
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Film Title
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Opening Weekend Gross
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“Shrek the Third”
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$121.6 million
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“Shrek 2”
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$108.0 million
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“The Incredibles”
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$70.4 million
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“Finding Nemo”
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$70.2 million
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“Ice Age: The Meltdown”
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$68.0 million
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“Monsters, Inc.”
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$62.5 million
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“Cars”
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$60.1 million
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“Kung Fu Panda”
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$60.0 million (estimated)
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“Toy Story 2”
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$57.3 million
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“Madagascar”
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$47.2 million
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And from what DreamWorks Animation insiders told me last night, the folks in management are dearly hoping that this past weekend’s box office estimates are revised upwards by at least $200,000. So that “Kung Fu Panda” can then pull ahead of “Cars” on that “Best Opening Weekend for an Animated Feature” list.
Speaking of “Cars” … You might think — given that Pixar’s last two releases didn’t meet their opening weekend projections (More importantly, that domestic ticket sales for this animation studio’s films have been trending downward since the 2004 release of “The Incredibles”) — that the folks in Emeryville would be stressing right about now. Particularly in the face of “Kung Fu Panda” ‘s extremely strong opening.
Copyright 2008 Disney / Pixar. All Rights Reserved
Well, that’s where you’d be wrong. According to the research that Disney’s already done on “WALL-E,” this new Andrew Stanton film should do rather well this summer. Current in-house box office projections suggest that “WALL-E” will at least do 1 & 1/3 times the business that “Ratatouille” did domestically ($206.4 million). Which isn’t exactly what “Finding Nemo” made over its stateside run ($339.7 million over the Summer of 2003) but that figure should still be north of “The Incredibles,” “Monsters, Inc.” and “Cars” did domestically (Those Pixar films earned $261.4 million, $255.8 million and $244 million respectively).
Intriguingly, those I spoke with at Disney were quite happy to talk about what they expected “WALL-E” to earn over the course of this Summer. But when I brought up this film’s opening weekend numbers, these same folks clammed right up. Remembering all of the bad press that the studio got in the wake of “Cars” and “Ratatouille” not meeting their initial box office projections, no one wanted to say what they thought “WALL-E” might earn over its opening weekend. Even when I asked if they expected this Andrew Stanton film to have a better opening weekend than “Kung Fu Panda” did, all these insiders would say is that they expected Disney & Pixar officials to be very pleased by the time Labor Day arrived.
Speaking of “Kung Fu Panda” … If there’s a downside to how well this Mark Osborne / John Stevenson film did, it’s that DreamWorks Animation officials are now regretting that they moved so quickly to put that “Kung Fu Panda” TV show into development. Given that they already promised this animated series to Nickelodeon … Well, that’s going to make it that much harder to capitalize on “KFP” ‘s current box office success.Quickly launch another DreamWorks Animation franchise by getting a sequel out there like “Madagascar: Escape to Africa.”
Copyright 2008 DreamWorks Animation. All Rights Reserved
But what do you folks think? Will “WALL-E” ‘s opening weekend numbers actually best those of “Kung Fu Panda” ? Or Po still come out on top in that particular department?
Your thoughts?