'Cars 2' Tops US Weekend B-O

JUNE 27, 2011 - Pixar's reliability was on display again with the roll-out of Cars 2. The manufacturer's latest model generated its 12th No. 1 opening in a row with an estimated US$68 million over the weekend. Moviegoers were also hot for Bad Teacher as well, but Green Lantern flamed out.

Riding on approximately 7,700 screens at 4,115 locations, Cars 2 delivered the fourth highest-grossing June opening weekend ever and the fifth highest-grossing opening weekend yet for a Pixar movie, behind Toy Story 3's $110.3 million, The Incredibles' $70.5 million, Finding Nemo's $70.3 million and Up's $68.1 million. The talking car sequel out-grossed the first Cars' $60.1 million opening weekend from June 2006, but trailed it in terms of estimated attendance. Cars 2's weekend was towards the back of the Pixar attendance pack, ahead of only A Bug's Life, Ratatouille and Toy Story.

Critics, however, lambasted Cars 2. The Wall Street Journal said the film "seldom gets beyond mediocrity," while the Chicago Tribune said it was "virtually joke-free." By contrast, Pixar's Toy Story 3, which opened to $110 million a year ago, was among the best reviewed films of 2010.

Elsewhere, in the overseas market, Cars 2 opened to an estimated US$42.9 million from 18 territories (or around 25 percent of the foreign market). According to Walt Disney Pictures, this opening was up 127 percent from the first Cars in the same markets and was also a marked improvement over Up and Ratatouille. Remarkably, though, Cars 2 also tracked four percent ahead of Toy Story 3, which went on to earn a Pixar-best US$648.2 million overseas last year.

Green Lantern descended to third with an estimated US$18.5 million. Its fall was a steep 65 percent and was more severe than both Thor and X-Men: First Class.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for June 24-26, 2011 weekend, in terms of rank, (previous week ranking), Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo. (US$1=RM3)


1. (-) Cars 2 (Buena Vista) $68.0 million ($68.0 million) 1

2. (-) Bad Teacher (Columbia) $31.0 million ($31.0 million) 1

3. (1) Green Lantern (Warner Bros.) $18.4 million ($89.3 million) 2

4. (2) Super 8 (Paramount) $12.1 million ($95.2 million) 3

5. (3) Mr. Popper's Penguins (Fox) $10.3 million ($39.4 million) 2