The latest computer-animated feature from Twentieth Century Fox rolled over the competition at the North American box office over the weekend. Heavy marketing and the inclusion of toon-voice favorite Robin Williams paid off handsomely as Robots pulled in an estimated $36.5 million to claim the top spot.
Directed by Chris Wedge (Ice Age), Robots stars Ewan McGregor as the voice of Rodney Copperbottom, a young inventor who goes to Robot City to meet his hero, Bigweld (Mel Brooks). His adventures lead him to take on corporate baddie Ratchet (Greg Kinnear), while being seduced by femme-bot Cappy (Halle Berry). Drew Carey, Jim Broadbent, and Amanda Bynes also lend their voices to the film, which is based on a book by William Joyce (Rolie, Polie, Olie; George Shrinks; A Bug’s Life).
Robots took the title of #1 family film from Buena Vista’s The Pacifier. The surprisingly successful Vin Diesel comedy drops to No. 2 with around $18 million for the weekend and an impressive two-week total of approximately $54 million.
MGM’s Get Shorty sequel, Be Cool, chilled down 56% in its second week out with just north of $10 million. Still, that take was enough to beat newcomer Hostage, Miramax’s suspense actioner starring Bruce Willis, which fell just short of $10 million. Meanwhile, Sony’s Hitch is still hanging tough after five weeks. The Will Smith romantic comedy rounds out the top five with an estimated $8.7 million as it approaches the $150 million mark.
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