It was a good weekend for the Disney/Pixar machine as Cars ran laps around the competition, taking the top pole position with an estimated $62.8 million. The prize money matched that of 2001’s Monsters, Inc., but ran short of the opening grosses for Pixar’s last two films, Finding Nemo ($70.2 million) and The Incredibles ($70.4 million). The difference can be attributed to DreamWorks Animation’s Over the Hedge, which picked up another $10.3 million (est.) for a fith-place finish and a five-week domestic cumulative draw of around $130 million.
Cars is directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker John Lasseter (Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug’s Life), who is now chief creative officer of the combined Disney and Pixar animation outfits, as well as principal creative advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering. Like most other animated releases, the film should have long legs, especially as kids get out of school for the summer. International business should also rev up when the pic is released wider in Europe following the World Cup soccer finals.
Universal’s comedy, The Breakup, continues to do well at No. 2 with an estimated $24 million for the weekend and a $74 million two-week take. But the movie to catch this summer is 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: The Last Stand. The effects-laden Marvel comic-book adaptation finished at No. 3 with an estimated $15.5 million, driving its three-week total past the $200 million mark. The studio’s remake of The Omen pulled in close behind at fourth place with around $15.4 million.
One of the weekend’s biggest success stories is Robert Altman A Prairie Home Companion. The fictional behind-the-scenes look at humorist Garrison Keilor’s public radio variety show managed to earn north of $4.6 million from only 760 theaters across North America, and is expected to open wider aver the next few weeks.
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