Top 10 for May 18-20, 2007 Summary: Sunday estimates are in.
After a two week reign at the top including a record-shattering opening weekend, Spider-Man 3 relinquished its title toDreamWorks Animation's big green ogre Shrek The Third, with the computer-animated comedy pulling in by far the biggest opening ever for an animated film with $122 million. Produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount, Shrek The Third was also the third-biggest debut of all-time, behind only the $151.1 million debut from Spider-Man 3 three weeks ago, and the $135.6 million gross of last summer's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
Opening beyond even the most optimistic predictions from industry analysts, the $160 million budgeted film shrugged off mediocre to poor reviews from critics while far surpassing the record opening weekend take of its predecessor Shrek 2 ($108 million). Though short-lived as its No. 1 status will be (Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End seems ready to challenge Spider-Man 3's three week old record), the debut was a huge boost for DreamWorks Animation, which had a rough 2006 following the big-budget bomb Flushed Away and the mildly disappointing Over The Hedge.
Though the studio has released eight computer-animated films, it has largely staked its financial fortunes around the Shrek franchise, which include the highest grossing (Shrek 2 with $441.2 million) and third highest grossing (2001's Shrek with $267.6 million) computer-animated features of all time. The studio has recently stated that two more Shrek films are slated for production (the next one arriving in 2010), plus a Puss and Boots spin-off film.
Averaging a remarkable $29,597 in an ultrawide 4,122 theaters, the PG-rated comedy took in nearly $40 million on its first day (including $907,000 from Thursday night screenings), while seeing a very encouraging 22% boost in sales on Saturday to $47 million. Sales slipped an understandable 22% on Sunday to $36.5 million. Whether Shrek the Third has the kind of staying power its immediate predecessor Shrek 2 maintained on its way to $441.2 million has yet to be determined, but considering the massive influx of big films coming in the next few weeks (including Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Sony's animated Surf's Up, and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer), it's a very good thing for DreamWorks Animation that the opening was as large as it was.
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