“Shrek The Third” Becomes Top Box Office Cartoon
Posted May 20, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s another big success for the big green ogre.
” Shrek the Third” took in $122 million in its first weekend, smashing the franchise’s own record for best debut ever for an animated film which ” Shrek 2” set at $108 million. “Shrek the Third” also became the third-biggest debut ever, behind the $151.1 million haul ” Spider-Man 3” and the $135.6 million total of ” Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest .”
“The opening was significantly beyond our expectations,” said Anne Globe, head of marketing for DreamWorks Animation. “The movie played much more like an all-audience movie. It played broadly to general and family audiences.”
The movie reunites Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas, while Justin Timberlake joins the cast providing the voice of the future King Arthur, an awkward teen Shrek mentors. Meanwhile a fter two weeks on top, “Spider-Man 3” slipped to second with $28.5 million. Worldwide, “Spider-Man 3” has taken in $747 million.
“Shrek the Third” will probably only get one week as champ. On Friday, Disney releases ” Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” with Johnny Depp returning as Jack Sparrow in the third “third installment” sure to turn some major coin, though it does run nearly three hours, limiting the number of screenings theatres can have each day.
“The third film of this massive triumvirate is on the way. Given the strength of `Spider-Man 3′ and `Shrek the Third,’ anticipation is running extremely high for `Pirates 3,”‘ said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. “Both `Spider-Man’ and `Shrek’ exceeded expectations, so who knows with `Pirates’? The marketplace is just exploding right now.”
Here’s the rest of the weekend’s top 10, with all figures estimated according to Media By Numbers LLC.
1. “Shrek the Third,” $122 million.
2. “Spider-Man 3,” $28.5 million.
3. ” 28 Weeks Later,” $5.15 million.
4. ” Disturbia,” $3.7 million.
5. ” Georgia Rule,” $3.5 million.
6. ” Fracture,” $2.4 million.
7. ” Delta Farce,” $1.8 million.
8. ” The Invisible,” $1.3 million.
9. ” Hot Fuzz,” $1.26 million.”
10. ” Waitress,” $1.14 million.
