Pixar Goes 'Up' With 68.2M Debut Weekend - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

comedyfreak · 05-31-2009, 06:22 PM

LOS ANGELES – The animated action comedy "Up" took flight with a $68.2 million opening weekend, maintaining a perfect box-office track record for Pixar Animation, whose 10 films all have been commercial and critical hits.

"Up" had the third-best opening for a film from Disney-owned Pixar, just behind the $70 million debuts for "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles." Last summer's Disney-Pixar release, "WALL-E," debuted with $63.1 million.

Like its Pixar predecessors, which include the "Toy Story" movies," "Finding Nemo" and "Ratatouille," "Up" earned glowing reviews from critics.

"Usually things that are very popular with audiences don't necessarily go over that well with critics. These things do both, and pretty much consistently every time," said Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "The Disney-Pixar collaboration is probably the closet thing to box-office perfection out there."

"Up" took over the No. 1 spot from 20th Century Fox's "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," which slipped to second-place with $25.5 million. The "Museum" sequel raised its 10-day total to $105.3 million.

The weekend's other new wide release, Universal Pictures' horror tale "Drag Me to Hell," opened at No. 3 with $16.6 million. It was a relatively modest return for director Sam Raimi, whose three "Spider-Man" movies had blockbuster opening weekends.

Paramount Pictures' "Star Trek" steered a strong course, coming in at No. 5 with $12.8 million and passing the computer-animated "Monsters vs. Aliens" as the year's top-grossing movie so far.

"Star Trek" raised its domestic total to $209.5 million, becoming the first 2009 release to cross the $200 million mark.

"Up" features the voice of Ed Asner in the adventures of a lonely widower who ties helium balloons to his house and flies to a South American adventure with a 9-year-old stowaway.

"An elderly gentleman and a young boy traveling off to South America; it's not your typical animated story and not necessarily the easiest story to convey," said Mark Zoradi, president of Disney's motion-picture group. "That's why I give a lot of credit to the marketing team for taking a movie that wasn't easy to convey to the public and opening it to the highest levels of animation that we've ever done for an original story."

Factoring in higher admission prices, earlier Pixar movies such as "Toy Story 2" and "Monsters, Inc." sold more tickets than "Up" over their first weekends.

"Up" drew both family crowds and adults without children, and the film's 3-D release accounted for 51 percent of the total gross, according to Disney.

Hollywood finished the month with record revenues of $1.02 billion, coming in slightly ahead of the previous high in May 2007, according to Hollywood.com.

Momentum for the year continued to slow from the record pace set in the first four months of 2009. While May revenues came in 4.7 percent above those of May 2008, Hollywood has not yet had a sky-high opening on the order of last year's action hits "Iron Man" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which both topped $300 million domestically.

Overall weekend revenues were at $167 million, virtually even with the same period last year.

Total revenues for 2009 rose to $4.1 billion, up 13.7 percent. Movie attendance was about 11 percent ahead of last year's.

Weekend Box Office Estimates (U.S.)
This Wk Last Wk Title Dist. Weekend Gross Cumulative
Gross Rlse
Wks # of
Theaters
1 - Up Buena Vista Pictures Distribution $68,200,000 $68,200,000 1 3766
2 1 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian 20th Century Fox $25,500,000 $105,296,000 2 4101
3 - Drag Me to Hell Universal Pictures $16,628,000 $16,628,000 1 2508
4 2 Terminator Salvation Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution $16,140,000 $90,657,000 2 3602
5 3 Star Trek Paramount Pictures $12,800,000 $209,500,000 4 3507
6 4 Angels & Demons Sony Pictures Releasing $11,200,000 $104,760,000 3 3464
7 5 Dance Flick MTV Films, Paramount Pictures $4,900,000 $19,241,000 2 2459
8 6 X-Men Origins: Wolverine 20th Century Fox Distribution $3,900,000 $170,870,000 5 2263
9 7 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution $1,905,000 $50,015,000 5 1450
10 8 Obsessed Sony Pictures Releasing $665,000 $67,508,000 6 679
11 15 The Brothers Bloom Summit Entertainment, LLC $652,000 $1,384,000 3 148
12 11 The Soloist Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, Universal Pictures $500,000 $30,266,000 6 412

05-31-2009, 06:22 PM	#1
comedyfreak Cheers! Forum Fanatic Join Date: Dec 14, 2005 Location: Sunny California Posts: 11,061	Pixar Goes 'Up' With 68.2M Debut Weekend LOS ANGELES – The animated action comedy "Up" took flight with a $68.2 million opening weekend, maintaining a perfect box-office track record for Pixar Animation, whose 10 films all have been commercial and critical hits. "Up" had the third-best opening for a film from Disney-owned Pixar, just behind the $70 million debuts for "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles." Last summer's Disney-Pixar release, "WALL-E," debuted with $63.1 million. Like its Pixar predecessors, which include the "Toy Story" movies," "Finding Nemo" and "Ratatouille," "Up" earned glowing reviews from critics. "Usually things that are very popular with audiences don't necessarily go over that well with critics. These things do both, and pretty much consistently every time," said Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "The Disney-Pixar collaboration is probably the closet thing to box-office perfection out there." "Up" took over the No. 1 spot from 20th Century Fox's "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," which slipped to second-place with $25.5 million. The "Museum" sequel raised its 10-day total to $105.3 million. The weekend's other new wide release, Universal Pictures' horror tale "Drag Me to Hell," opened at No. 3 with $16.6 million. It was a relatively modest return for director Sam Raimi, whose three "Spider-Man" movies had blockbuster opening weekends. Paramount Pictures' "Star Trek" steered a strong course, coming in at No. 5 with $12.8 million and passing the computer-animated "Monsters vs. Aliens" as the year's top-grossing movie so far. "Star Trek" raised its domestic total to $209.5 million, becoming the first 2009 release to cross the $200 million mark. "Up" features the voice of Ed Asner in the adventures of a lonely widower who ties helium balloons to his house and flies to a South American adventure with a 9-year-old stowaway. "An elderly gentleman and a young boy traveling off to South America; it's not your typical animated story and not necessarily the easiest story to convey," said Mark Zoradi, president of Disney's motion-picture group. "That's why I give a lot of credit to the marketing team for taking a movie that wasn't easy to convey to the public and opening it to the highest levels of animation that we've ever done for an original story." Factoring in higher admission prices, earlier Pixar movies such as "Toy Story 2" and "Monsters, Inc." sold more tickets than "Up" over their first weekends. "Up" drew both family crowds and adults without children, and the film's 3-D release accounted for 51 percent of the total gross, according to Disney. Hollywood finished the month with record revenues of $1.02 billion, coming in slightly ahead of the previous high in May 2007, according to Hollywood.com. Momentum for the year continued to slow from the record pace set in the first four months of 2009. While May revenues came in 4.7 percent above those of May 2008, Hollywood has not yet had a sky-high opening on the order of last year's action hits "Iron Man" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which both topped $300 million domestically. Overall weekend revenues were at $167 million, virtually even with the same period last year. Total revenues for 2009 rose to $4.1 billion, up 13.7 percent. Movie attendance was about 11 percent ahead of last year's. Weekend Box Office Estimates (U.S.) This Wk Last Wk Title Dist. Weekend Gross Cumulative Gross Rlse Wks # of Theaters 1 - Up Buena Vista Pictures Distribution $68,200,000 $68,200,000 1 3766 2 1 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian 20th Century Fox $25,500,000 $105,296,000 2 4101 3 - Drag Me to Hell Universal Pictures $16,628,000 $16,628,000 1 2508 4 2 Terminator Salvation Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution $16,140,000 $90,657,000 2 3602 5 3 Star Trek Paramount Pictures $12,800,000 $209,500,000 4 3507 6 4 Angels & Demons Sony Pictures Releasing $11,200,000 $104,760,000 3 3464 7 5 Dance Flick MTV Films, Paramount Pictures $4,900,000 $19,241,000 2 2459 8 6 X-Men Origins: Wolverine 20th Century Fox Distribution $3,900,000 $170,870,000 5 2263 9 7 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution $1,905,000 $50,015,000 5 1450 10 8 Obsessed Sony Pictures Releasing $665,000 $67,508,000 6 679 11 15 The Brothers Bloom Summit Entertainment, LLC $652,000 $1,384,000 3 148 12 11 The Soloist Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, Universal Pictures $500,000 $30,266,000 6 412
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